Naruto of the Flames of Destiny
by MogtheGnome
Summary: There are other powers in the world besides the biju... A Naruto King of Fighter's Fusion
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it ain't mine.

"Numerology is an oft speculated subject amongst seal experts. Numbers are said to hold so much mystery within them, keys to greater power if used correctly.

"Most people say that 'Seven is a Lucky Number', that 'Four is Unlucky', or even that 'Three is the Funniest number'. Those people are barely scratching the surface, the potential, of numbers.

"If seven is Lucky, Nine is Danger.

"If four is Unlucky, Eight is Power."

"Indeed, by far the most important, most powerful number, the most versatile number, is Eight. Eight represents so much, so much that people have forgotten.

"It encompasses the Elements, the raw Power of the planet itself-Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Lightening."

"It encompasses the trait necessary to obtain power-Determination. It also encompasses the trait necessary to maintain power- Fear, or as some put it, Cruelty.

"And it even encompasses the metaphorical position of those in power-The top of the Mountain."

"If there is one thing that you take away from this talk, let it be this: The Number Eight holds far more secrets, far more Power, than nine could ever dream of."

-From a lecture given by the Fourth Hokage to his Genin Team.

In the beginning, there were many Powers. The Gods, the Demons, the Dragons, the Spirits. Power flowed abundantly, and was fought over by those who knew its worth.

As time passes, the numbers of the truly powerful dwindled, as they killed each other off to take each others powers. Thus there were fewer Great Beings, but those that remained were even stronger then before.

Perhaps the most infamous were the Biju, the Nine Tailed Demons. The last of their kind, having killed off the rest, they created and maintained a pact amongst themselves; they would no longer kill each other, keeping their numbers static. Each one's power was represented by their Tails, and each demon had more Tails then the last, culminating in the great Kyuubi no Kitsune itself.

There were other powers out there, some known to humans, some long forgotten.

The Shinigami has always been remembered by humans, being fearful of death. The Shinigami had even more restrictions placed on how it could act, but when it was in a position to, almost no force in the Universe could stop it.

And perhaps one of the least known Greater Beings, one of the few who stood toe to toe with the Shinigami and lived, was the great Orochi, the Eight Headed Dragon.

The reason mankind had forgotten the Orochi was not because of time, but because the knowledge was suppressed.

The Orochi was one of the few Greater Beings that humanity had managed to defeat. The Yasakani, the Kusanagi, and the Yata had come together, and with an ingenious plan and some blessed artifacts, managed to seal away the Orochi.

600 years ago, mankind celebrated one of its few victories over a force of nature. Unfortunately, men will be men, and the Kusanagi stole the limelight, the fame, and the fortune away from the Yasakani family. The Yata were content being shrine keepers, but the Yasakani...they were not content to stand in the background.

Fueled by jealousy, they made contact with the very being they had so recently locked away. They made a blood-pact with the Orochi.

The Orochi twisted their birthright, their sacred Magatama. The Magatama was locked into their eyes, giving them sight and perception on levels previously unknown to man.

The Yasakani changed their name to Hyuuga, and sought out and slaughtered the Kusanagi. To make sure no one knew of their betrayal, they also slew the Yata, and stole away the sacred mirror that was a key to the seal of the Orochi.

They stole the wealth of the two other families, and used it to make themselves into nobility.

They became paranoid in their power, fearful that the Orochi would one day come to claim what the Hyuuga owed to it. They stamped the Orochi out of human history, hoping no one ever entertained the idea of trying to free it.

And for the last 600 years, they have maintained that status.

The Orochi grows restless, though. He wants out of his prison. Though sealed away as he is, he can still manifest his power, into both those humans blessed by him in ages past, and those he deems his Heavenly Kings and his Hakkeshu.

The Orochi manifested his strongest Heavenly King, He of the Wildly-Blowing Wind. He also activated the blood in one of the purest lines of the Orochi Clan, his Hakkeshu of Water.

The two met up, and began to plan on how to make their Lord's dreams a reality.

The Hakkeshu of the Wind was a man who would be known to most of the world as the Yondaime Hokage.

The Hakkeshu of Water would one day be one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsman of the Mist, Hoshigake Kisame.

They met, and they planned.

Soon, others of the Orochi blood appeared. Yuuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko, representing the Orochi's more abstract embodiments of Determination and Fear, were born a few years apart. Both were sought out by the Yondaime, and had their future revealed to them.

Maito Gai, Hakkeshu of the Mountain, hid himself so well in plain sight. Everyone knew him-and everyone ignored him. He went everywhere, and watched everything, and no one ever suspected a thing.

Because of the Yasakani's greed, and their slaying of the Yata, the seal they thought would hold forever was weakening.

Without them ever realizing, the Orochi had been carefully breaking free of the seal, manipulating the family more and more. Twisting them, using them, and breaking them.

He fanned the paranoia that the head family felt, and inspired the then-current Hyuuga head to create the caged-bird seal. The Hyuuga thought that the seal would afford them even greater protection over their secrets.

Yes, it did let them control the branch families with the threat of death. However, it also let the Orochi influence the minds of those who bore it. So strong an influence, that within the presence of one of the Orochi blood, the Orochi could even control them.

And with no one to maintain the Seal, the Orochi was able to grow in strength.

This was felt by others with Power.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune, not wanting the Orochi to return to the world again, sought to steal the seal containing him, and maintain it himself. So he made his way to Konoha, to destroy the village who dared to host one of his enemies.

The Orochi, though, felt the approach of the Kyuubi. It came up with a new plan, and communicated it to his lead servant. His remaining Hakkeshu were being born, and the Orochi had come up with an idea to increase his own power dramatically.

His chosen host, the Heavenly King of Fire, was born just a day before the Kyuubi arrived. The common practice of Hidden Villages to deal with Biju was to seal them into a host, a Jinchuriki.

But what, mused the Orochi, would happen if a biju was sealed into my future host?

It would multiply the Orochi's powers to levels untold, or it would be his own doom. To gain in Power one must always take risks, so, armed with this plan and one of the strongest sealing techniques ever devised, the Yondaime, He of The Wildly Blowing Wind, sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi into the child who would one day be the He of the Flames of Destiny.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Author's Notes: Well, my second stab at a story, with a Naruto/King of Fighter's fusion. You won't see any characters from KOF in here (outside of the Orochi), but you can certainly see whose been fused with what (and there will be more influences).

The plot will be a mix of the two, and, if you know KOF history, you'll know some of the things coming.

Reviews, comments, criticisms, anything is good.


	2. Chapter 1

"I know that Anko-neesan said that I had to live here, but I don't see why I have to be the only one who lives alone. Ino and Kiba still live with THEIR families. Why can't I live with somebody?"

Naruto, for as long as he could remember, had been taken care of by 'Anko-neesan'. She wasn't very motherly, but she made sure Naruto was at least eating right. And bathing.

"Wouldn't do to show Orochi-sama a dirty body, now would it?" is what she would say.

'But it wasn't all bad,' Naruto thought. 'Whenever they got the chance, Kurenai-neesan and Anko-neesan would sneak Ino-chan and Kiba out to play with me!'

Kurenai, ever since she became a genin, had managed to corner the market on "Baby-sitting" D-ranked missions. Initially it was the Yondaime's idea, to make it easier for someone to gain access to the last 3 Heavenly Kings, whenever they were born. Kurenai continued it after the Yondaime died, because it really WAS a good idea.

Kurenai was 22 now, and still took baby-sitting missions now and then, though only for limited clientele. "For nostalgia", she'd always say. No one ever noticed that she always took the Inuzuka boy and the Yamanaka girl together. And especially, no one ever noticed the 'Demon brat' there too.

Ever since he could remember, Anko and Kurenai would tell him stories about the Orochi. About how great, about how powerful, how wise, how GOOD the Orochi was. And how it was Naruto's ultimate destiny to serve the Orochi in a way that others could only dream of.

'But at least Kurenai-neesan isn't as scary as Anko-neesan.' Kurenai, unlike Anko, was actually good with kids, due to her lengthy experience. Anko wasn't mean, so much as she was...scary. Naruto never crossed Anko, not after the first time he did so, and she...punished him.

'No ramen for a week was WAY too harsh for lighting her dresser on fire!'

Unfortunately, that little incident had cost Anko a good deal of her...unmentionables, as well as some of her 'Special' ones. 

'Whatever THOSE were.'

But the stories of the Orochi always fascinated Naruto. Kurenai would tell Naruto all these great stories, about the great deeds that the Orochi performed, of its wisdom, and its love of nature.

Anko would tell Naruto stories of the Orochi's strength, how it protected Nature from all those who would destroy or twist it. How nature would rise up and do its bidding. Anko would usually make some form of derogatory remark against the Shodai Hokage.

Most Konoha children are raised listening to stories of praise of him. Naruto grew up learning that he was a perversion of nature.

And Naruto believed. Naruto heard of the Orochi, of its benevolence as well its vengeance, and he believed.

Sometimes, it was the only thing that let Naruto keep on going, when no one would talk to him in public. It gave him something to hold onto, something to believe in.

Well, that's not true. There WAS one person who would talk to him in public. Frankly, a lot of people pitied him even more because of it. And now, as Naruto was trying to sneak on over to Ichiraku's for a snack...

"NARUTO-KUN! THERE YOU ARE! IT'S TIME FOR OUR TRAINING SESSION, WHERE WE WILL FAN THE FLAMES OF YOUR YOUTH!"

Crap, there he was. Most people shook their heads and sighed, thinking that not even the Kyuubi-gaki deserved the personal attention of Gai.

"Oh, uh, hi Gai-sensei. I was, uh, looking for you?"

"Oh, ho! You were looking for me, but you forgot your training outfit? Lucky for you, I brought a spare!"

No one ever really suspected Gai of any ulterior motive. He's...Gai. Most people don't even come close to scratching the surface.

Gai actually does the least to hide his affiliations. If one bothered to look, that is. If anyone bothered to look in the history books, they'd find that his taijutsu style is the exact same one practiced by those of the Orochi blood, hundreds of years ago. Only one of Orochi blood could handle the opening of the Gates, after all.

He talked of Green-Beasts, and Flames of Youth. Hell, if he went to a psychiatrist, he would be described as clinically insane. He hid in plain sight, nobody noticing him as he went off to 'Train his youthful body' against all the local bandits/yakuza. And no one, not even those who knew that one of the newest Yakuza bosses in the area went by the codename "The Beast of the Mountain", would ever guess that GAI of all people was a Yakuza boss.

He was the only one who could get away with training Naruto in public, so train Naruto he did. Mostly he trained Naruto in speed combat, expecting Naruto to create his own unique attacks with his particular gift. But before that could happen, he would make sure that no one would be able to touch him.

But this was Naruto's life, his early memories. A lot of the time he was alone, but there were people who watched out for him, and made sure he was ok.

When he was lucky, he got to hang out with Ino-chan and Kiba. Kurenai always said they had to get along, that they would be 'team-mates' one day. Whenever they got the chance, they'd play together. Even if Kurenai said that Ino and Kiba couldn't talk to Naruto out in public...not until they got into the academy.

Not to say that Anko-neesan and Kurenai-neesan were bad company. They just didn't enjoy the same things that Naruto did. Like running around pranking people, or eating Ramen.

'And after learning a little bit about how to control the fire, I don't even have to wait the full three minutes anymore! It's the coolest thing ever!'

Luckily for Naruto, though...the academy started next week.

'Finally! I'll be able to play with Ino-chan and Kiba all I want...and maybe Gai-sensei will stop chasing me down so much...'"Hurry up, Naruto-kun! We have much training to do before the day is out! Why, if we can't finish our training today, we'll run around the Hokage monument 20 times! And if we can't make all 20 laps, we'll do 3000 pushups, and if..."

'Crap, he's doing that weird challenge thing! No more stalling, I guess...'

And so Naruto followed Gai to one of the training grounds.

When most people talked about Gai, someone inevitably mentioned Kakashi. Most people believed that Gai stalked Kakashi, initiating all sorts of odd competitions. Those people would be mistaken.

It was not Gai who sought out Kakashi, but Kakashi who sought out Gai.

Kakashi, as a student of the Yondaime, had figured out something was off about him. He had one time found the Yondaime speaking to Gai privately, and though he could not make out the words, the expression on Gai's face was decidedly un-Gai-ish.

So he began to investigate, as any good ninja would. It had lead him to some rather odd facts.

The Yondaime and Gai had something that was...off...about their power. Kakashi began trying to find out what this power was, so he could use it himself. He investigated as much as he could into it, but he couldn't find anything even remotely similar, no matter how hard he researched.

The Hyuuga had been rather effective when they stomped out all knowledge relating to the Orochi, and those of his blood.

And one day the Yondaime caught him, while off on a mission during the war. And on that day, Kakashi's life was forever changed.

Kakashi demanded to know what manner of power it was that the Yondaime had, and why Maito Gai, an acknowledged loony, was allowed to share it, when his own student, the genius Kakashi, was not.

And the Yondaime laughed. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed; and Kakashi grew progressively angrier and angrier, and demanded that the Yondaime stop laughing at him.

The Yondaime stopped, and frowned, and to Kakashi's surprise just appeared in his face, lifting him up by his throat, and told him mockingly:

"Only one of the blood can control the power."

Kakashi attacked, declaring that he far deserved any power more then Gai; the Yondaime countered. The conclusion to the fight was foregone, but Kakashi felt completely insulted and filled with righteous-indignation at being told Gai had descended from better blood, or something, then he. 

Kakashi told many that he lost his left eye in the war. Yes, it occurred during wartime, and there WAS an eye in his socket when he was slashed across the face by the rock-nin. But it was not his real eye, or really an eye at all. Yondaime had taken Kakashi's eye as punishment, for attacking him demanding to be given power.

But, the Yondaime conceded, if Kakashi wants access to the Orochi (which rather confused Kakashi, having no clue who or what the Orochi was), who was he to deny him? And so, similar to what the Orochi did to the Yasakani, the Orochi sealed a portion of his power into Kakashi's empty eye-socket.

What that power enabled him to do was control his power a great deal, specifically the power of his element, lightning. It was similar to that of the Hakkeshu of Lightning's abilities, though magnitudes lesser.

So Kakashi took his power, and created a technique to emulate one his sensei's techniques, figuring that this power should be used similarly. Unfortunately, his imperfect power created an imperfect technique, one that, for him, used a lot of wasted power to little effect. Kakashi never noticed the wasted power, one of things that enabled him to teach the technique to others...the technique barely scratched his potential with lightning...he just poured far too much energy into it.

His new power, looking for a new outlet, found a new one when his 'eye' was yet again removed, and replaced with an eye of Power: the Sharingan. The only reason his body even accepted the substitution without any problems, on a battlefield with an inexperienced medic who had few real tools on her, was because his Orochi-born power channeled itself into his new eye, causing it to act as if it was his own natural eye.

It's all in Kakashi's head that he cannot turn off the Sharingan eye. The eye was now just as much a part of him as it was of Obito. But more so, because of the Orochi power that enabled its use, it was forced to its pinnacle potential almost immediately.

It forced Kakashi's Sharingan to the level of Mangekyo. Kakashi, unfortunately, to this day does not know what had happened, and just brushes off what happened to his imagination, and that his eye was just stronger for the first few moments, before stabilizing.

These days Kakashi spends his time watching Gai, trying to catch him using his Power, trying to get him to reveal SOMETHING that he can use to further learn about his own power. 

Kakashi knows there is more to it, and he is determined to figure it out. He can feel it, just under his skin, all the time. He can feel it rising and ebbing, and releasing like flood-gates whenever he used the Chidori. And he wanted to use it more, use it better. All for the sake of power.

And Gai knew exactly what Kakashi was up to, and laughed. He laughed at how blatantly he could screw around with Kakashi in public, and make him to ridiculous stunts; Kakashi never actually turned down one of his challenges...not when he might finally figure out more about this "Orochi-power" of his.

And when Gai began training Naruto...well, Kakashi never missed a session, whether people saw him spying or not. But Gai and Naruto knew, though Naruto didn't know WHY he watched.

But Naruto did know that if he didn't start hurrying, Gai would make him run around Konoha on his hands again. And that never ended well.

Comments? Criticisms? Reviews? Any and all are accepted…desired, even : D.


	3. Chapter 2

"Hello and welcome to your first day at Konoha's Ninja Academy. Here you will spend the next six years of your life, to see if you have the potential to be a ninja, and if you do, to ensure that you meet that potential."

'Blah blah blah...when the hell will they let us leave this room? We've been sitting her listening to old people talk for an hour now!'

Most kids (though there were a few notable exceptions) were bored out of their minds, listening to speaker after speaker. And they all basically said the same thing.

'You're going to learn to become a ninja, or wash out.'

Naruto was sitting in the back, with Ino on his left and Kiba on his right. Looking around, he identified a few other students, mostly those who came from major clans and were therefore distinctive.

There was one clan in particular he was looking for...and there it was.

Naruto sneered.

'Hyuuga traitor.'

For as long as Naruto heard stories of the Orochi's greatness, he also heard stories about the Hyuuga's treachery. They were part of the team that sealed away the Orochi originally, but then decided to accept his blessing and become his followers.

And after receiving his blessing of power, they turn around and betray the Orochi, breaking his trust in them.

So Naruto was raised being told stories of their villainy, and how they could not be trusted.

'Remember, Naruto. The Hyuuga have deceived everyone, and the misguided people of this village trust them. You can't show your true feelings openly...but that doesn't mean you have to be nice to them. Especially ones without a seal on their forehead.'

Naruto had looked at the girl's forehead...there was no seal, and therefore she was an open target for hatred.

Ino, noticing Naruto's expression, poked him in the side.

"Pay attention, Naruto-kun...Don't stare at people."

Naruto rolled his eyes, and sighed. He was just so bored, and now Ino wanted him to listen to this? He had heard other kids say girls were crazy...just look at Kiba! He was asleep!

'Why can't I fall asleep, too?'

The eye-rolling and sighing prompted Ino to elbow him, and whisper louder at him.

"Naruto-baka, pay attention!"

But finally, all the talking ended, and the children were split up into different homerooms.

'Odd, that all the kids I've been told to watch out for are in the same class with me. That's kinda convenient, I guess.'

And so classes began.

One thing that confused Naruto was that the teacher's seemed biased against him. They wouldn't call on him when he had his hand raised, they DID call him on when he was asleep, and never once did any of them try to show him how to do the physical stuff right. Even though his time with Gai (who still kept the training up, to Naruto's annoyance) meant that he was doing it amongst the best in the class.

So Naruto went and asked Anko why they acted like that.

"...Go ask Kurenai."

Kurenai had been expecting this question for a while now, and gathered the three children together. She said she was going to answer Naruto's question, so they were understandably excited.

"You all know of the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, correct? Well, there is much to the story that most people don't know.

"Most do not know why the Kitsune attacked Konoha. They believe it was just a mindless beast, bent on destruction. That is not true.

"The Kyuubi had sensed Orochi-sama's powers increasing, and was afraid. He came to find where the weakened Orochi-sama waited, and either capture him or kill him. But, Orochi-sama, with the help of the greatest among us, the Yondaime, managed to come up with a plan that would actually make the Kyuubi's attack of benefit to us.

"The Yondaime was one of the premier seal experts of all time, and he came up with a new seal, one that would completely seal a Biju into a host, with no chance of escape. This is the customary method of dealing with Biju, but no one had yet created one strong enough to contain the Kyuubi, until the Yondaime. This seal also did another thing- It let the host have free access to the biju's power, if there will was strong enough.

"So the Yondaime sealed away the Kyuubi, at the cost of his life. And he sealed him into the future host of Orochi-sama...you, Naruto."

All three children were stunned.

"That...That doesn't make Naruto the Kyuubi, does it? I mean, it's just in his body, right?"

Kiba had been blown away. He had been so caught up in the story, that he had forgotten the original question. It just came out of nowhere.

To him, Naruto was a good friend. Maybe not his best friend, but he was fun to hang out with. And Kurenai-san always said that he'd be spending a lot of time in the future with Naruto, so they should get along now. And Kiba was a good kid (for Kurenai, at least...he didn't want to be sent to spend time in time-out. Time-out consisted of being watched by Anko. And she was, quite frankly, a very scary lady), so he listened to Kurenai, and made friends with him.

But he didn't want to be friends with an evil demon-fox-thing, so this would be an important point to clarify.

"No, Kiba. Naruto is not the Kyuubi. He is just its prison, and one day, Orochi-sama will relieve him of this burden, and take the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune into itself. Naruto is just holding onto it for him for now."

"But...the teachers don't know about Orochi-sama. Is that why they hate Naruto-kun? Because they think he's keeping the Kyuubi's power for himself?"

Ino cared about Naruto a lot more then Kiba did, mainly because, well, she's a girl. She's been told for as long as she can remember that Naruto has a great destiny, and that helping him and working with him is an important part of doing the Orochi's work.

But, of course, one has to remember that she's a little girl, understanding this all from a little girl's perspective.

She, quite naturally, saw the Kyuubi as just one more thing that made Naruto a tragic-hero ('Just like from those books Mommy reads me!'), and one more reason why she should marry him. If, perhaps, she had never met Naruto, she'd have latched onto Uchiha Sasuke for the very same reason. This time, though, she encountered Uzumaki Naruto first. She learned more about him, KNEW him better than she would have ever known the Uchiha. She had even more reason now, after knowing about the Kyuubi, to desire him more.

"No, Ino-chan, they don't think that. They think he's the Kyuubi itself, hiding in a human body, biding its time before it can come back and kill them all."

"But...that's just stupid! They can't tell the difference between me and a huge fox?"

Naruto had been quite understandably stunned by the story. Like Kiba, he hadn't seen it coming at all. And the only thing he could think was 'They think I'm a fox? Can't they see I don't act like a fox, much less look like one? Maybe I've got secret fox ears or something? That'd actually be pretty cool...I wonder if foxes like Ramen...'

Naruto took the story and explanation the most like a child; not really understanding it, or its implications.

"Not all people are as smart as you kids are, and can't see the truth. But one day, they will. Now just remember, don't get too angry if the teacher's ignore you. Just remember that you're better then them...they'll never get to serve Orochi-sama they way you children will. Now go and do your homework."

And so, the Academy began.

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'Man, school is always so boring. Me and Kiba need to find a way to liven it up!'

The Academy was... different from what the kids had expected. They spent their days either running around outside (which was fun), or sitting inside listening to lectures on history (which was not fun). Especially because they kept on seeming to leave out the Orochi.

But the one time Naruto asked, Kurenai was very emphatic on NOT to bring the Orochi up.

So Naruto decided he would talk to the other kids in class. Who all turned out to be really boring.

'That Shikamaru kid never wants to do anything and that other kid just follows him around. There's the guy with the bugs, but all he ever does, is, well, talk to bugs. Then there's that Sasuke kid... he seems nice enough, but a bit whiny. All he ever talks about how awesome his brother is, and its kinda annoying.'

Kiba was having better luck, not being as picky or quite as hyperactive as Naruto. Though it isn't saying much, as it just meant that he was skipping classes with Shikamaru and Chouji, and then going on his merry way. One might wonder why Kiba was able to skip classes, but Naruto wasn't...

"Naruto-kun! Get over here! We're gonna play Ninja's again!"

... Because Kiba didn't have a little girl following him around who had decided that they were perfect for each other years ago.

Ino had been doing a better job of making friends then the two boys had, simply because she was being much more forceful about it. She, when she told all the other girls to 'Stay away from my Naruto-kun!', had placed herself at the top of the little-girl-pecking-order, as she was the only one with a 'boyfriend'. Not that Naruto knew about it.

But he did come whenever she called, so the girls thought she was telling the truth. And were all really jealous.

'Darn you, Kiba! One day, I'll sneak on out pass Ino, and be able to leave early! Then I'll go to Ichiraku's, and get some miso Ramen, and some beef...'

As Naruto stood there drooling, Ino became progressively angrier. 'No, he's thinking about that Ichiraku's place again! I'll never keep him away from that...that...what's the word Anko-san used- ramen-hussy!- if he keeps this up! Gotta get him over here!'

Because in Ino's mind, no one could possibly be that worked up over just food. There had to be more.

And as Ino began to stomp angrily over to Naruto, her best friend in the class tried to calm her down.

"Ino-chan, why are you so angry? It's not like we even need Naruto to play ninja's, anyway. Just go and get him, and let's get started."

Haruno Sakura had been made fun of for her rather large forehead and timid demeanor. When Ino saw this, she instantly got angry.

'Hey, that's not nice! What did that girl ever do to them? Kurenai-neesan is right, some humans can be so mean!'

And with that though, she went on over and, well, beat the other girls up. However, so angry did Ino get, that she accidentally manifested some of her powers in the process.

"Ino-san, thanks...but where on earth did that lightning come from?"

"Um...it's a secret? You can't tell anyone, or, uh, it'll hit you too!"

Fortunately for Ino, Sakura was also a little girl, and completely fell for that lie. Ino having access to secret lightning just made her cooler in her eyes, and Sakura promptly attached herself to Ino like a leech. Ino, who had been looking for friends, didn't mind, and thus, a friendship was born.

"You're right, Sakura-chan...Naruto, just come over here already! Everyone knows you can't play Ninja's without the Daddy... who will go to work and bring home food, then?"

'... I think she has her games mixed up... But I guess Ramen will have to wait.'

And so time passed. Two years seemed to flash by.

"Hey, where's that Sasuke kid? He's never missed a class before."

"You didn't hear what happened?"

It was the talk of the classroom, especially when Sasuke finally did come back to class. He had transformed from the whiny little kid who could only talk about his brother, to a broody, angsty kid, who never really talked at all.

Naturally, the 8 year old girls loved it. Except Ino, of course.

'Hmmph. Naruto-kun could be just as angsty and broody if he wanted to.'

'Oh crap, she's looking at me like that again! What the hell do I do? And I don't think Anko-neesan's advice will work...'

'Man, that lucky Sasuke...he's got all the girls fawning all over him. Why don't I have girls all over me? I'm twice as cool as he is!'

Kiba, who was rather jealous of the whole situation, was actually pretty excited. Soon, one of the dogs at home would give birth, and he'd finally have his puppy! The dog would help him in part of his fighting style.

'And Mom even said something about it helping focus my powers! Even though Mom never really talks about that kind of things, I know she knows about it. She has to... though its usually Kurenai-san or Anko-san who helps me with them.'

The Yamanaka's and the Inuzuka's, to give birth to a Hakkeshu, had to be near full-blooded Orochi warriors themselves. So while much of the lore of their powers had been lost or hidden over time, they did know where they descended from, and they did know that there were only certain families they could intermarry with. But the details? They left those up to the Hakkeshu, and, if there were any present at the time, the Heavenly Kings.

But Kiba was exciting, Ino was happy, and Naruto was bored out of his mind. And Sasuke... he was angsty.

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'Finally! We're learning something useful!'

It was the final year of the Academy. The ninja-in-training had begun to learn the three basic jutsus that they needed to graduate. Naruto, having been trained by Gai, already knew them, and had been helping Kiba and Ino to ensure they graduated.

Since day one of the Academy, Naruto had been at the top, much to the teacher's displeasure, in all physical subjects. Since the day of the Uchiha Massacre, though, he's been fighting Sasuke for that position. They both left all the classroom activities to Haruno Sakura to be at the top.

Kiba, while also incredibly competitive, was right below them. And Ino was the top girl in all the same categories.

And graduation time was approaching.

Naruto, however, was mildly upset about something Gai-sensei had just told him.

"You know, Naruto-kun... the Top Rookie every year is always paired with the dead last. If you want to be on the same team as Ino-chan and Kiba-kun, you can't also be Top Rookie."

That was another change, in the past 4 years... Ino and Kiba began learning with Gai, too. Not too much, as they could only really learn with him on weekends, but still, 4 years was a lot of time to learn a lot of things.

Naruto knew, though, that he'd have to start flubbing some stuff up, if he wanted to team up with his friends. After all, no one was going to be able to get worse grades then Shikamaru at this point...that kid managed to sleep through EVERYTHING.

Graduation was on the horizon, and Naruto couldn't wait.

Author's Notes: More development, and gonna hit up graduation next chapter.

Comments? Criticism? Whatever you wanna say? Leave reviews!


	4. Chapter 3

"Ok, the graduation test will conclude with Bunshin no Jutsu."

As the class groaned, Naruto rolled his eyes.

'That's it? That's all we have to do to become a ninja? Pass a written test and perform a single, extremely basic jutsu? Bah, at least it makes it easier on me... Less time I have to study means the more time I have for the more important things in life. Like ramen... mmm, I can almost tas-'

"Stop daydreaming about that ramen girl, Naruto-kun, and pay attention! We have a test to pass!" Even whispering, Ino managed to be loud.

"How many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing going on between me and Ayame-neesan? She's five years older than us, Ino! That's way too old-"

"Well, Naruto, since you seem so keen on talking, you can go first." Iruka smirked. He welcomed any chance to talk down to Naruto.

'Argh, stupid Iruka-sensei...always picking on me. It's not like this is hard.'

Grumbling, Naruto made his way to the front of the classroom, and performed a simple Bunshin no Jutsu. With a slight, almost unnoticeable, flick of fire, three clones of Naruto appeared.

Naruto had eventually given up trying to work out the slight bits of fire that inevitably showed up whenever he used his chakra. Ino and Kiba never seemed to have the same problem, though.

And so the class went. People who were expected to passed, those who weren't, didn't. There were some surprises ("Shikamaru actually woke up?"), but mostly everything went as everyone thought it would.

"For those of you who passed, come back at the appointed time for Team Assignments...for the rest of you, there's always next year."

And with that, the kids all left.

As Naruto made his way out, with Ino following him, he was intercepted by Mizuki.

"Congratulations on passing, Naruto-kun. Can I have just a moment to speak to you privately?"

Confused, Naruto looked over at Ino, who shrugged. She didn't know what this was about, either.

"Uhh, sure. Ino, I'll catch up with ya later."

After Ino walked away, Naruto and Mizuki began to walk, and talk.

"What happened at the end of this year, Naruto? You were doing so well, a shoo-in for the Rookie of the Year, and then you just let Sasuke pass you up?"

Naruto was not expecting this. He had thought that all the teachers would have been happy to see him start doing worse. So he decided to play it safe, and lie.

"I didn't let the bastard! He must have cheated or something! I'm definitely better then him!"

Mizuki smirked.

"Really? The final grades say otherwise... are you sure you're better then Sasuke?"

At this point, Naruto stopped lying. He was pissed. There was no way that angsty-bastard was better then he was!

"Of course I'm better then him! If anyone says otherwise, I'll kick their ass!"

"Well, there IS one way to beat him... and it'd make you top Rookie again."

'Well, crap.' Naruto was about to immediately shout that he'd do it, when Mizuki had mentioned that it would make him top Rookie.

'What's worse...not being on a team with Ino and Kiba, or losing to Sasuke? Ino and Kiba (he hoped!) or Sasuke?'

'Wait... if I'm on a team with Ino, she'll just nag me all the time. And never let me go to Ichiraku's! Kiba's cool, though. Does his coolness make up for Ino's nagging? Argh! Stupid teacher!'

Mizuki watched the play of emotions across Naruto's face, confused that it was taking him this long.

'I know he hates Sasuke. I thought he would have responded in a second. What's he thinking about?'

Naruto looked up, and saw Mizuki staring at him oddly.

'Well, it wouldn't hurt to find out what this 'way to beat Sasuke' is. I can always do it later, if its worth it.'

"What would I have to do?"

"Inside the Hokage tower, there is a hidden scroll filled with powerful jutsus. The final test, only for worthy genin-hopefuls, is to find the scroll, steal it, and learn a single jutsu off of it. If you can do that... well, let's just say you're in the fast track for promotion if you pull it off."

'He can't be serious, can he? I mean, who would fall for that?'

Seeing Naruto's doubtful expression, Mizuki decided to up the ante. He leaned forward, and began to whisper.

"I even heard that it has a jutsu that lets you cut the time it takes to make instant Ramen from 3 minutes to 15 seconds."

"I'LL DO IT!"

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'Ramen jutsu ramen jutsu ramen jutsu YAY! Now all I gotta do is find this 'forbidden scroll', steal it, and I get my very own Ramen jutsu!'

Naruto was running down the streets, pretty much as excited as he could get. As he approached the Hokage tower, he slowed down, and began to stealthily enter the building.

'Hey, wait a second... why aren't there any guards? Where IS everyone?'

The streets were pretty empty, there seemed to be no one around the Tower. Hell, there was no one IN the tower, either, and Naruto knew that wasn't normal.

For tonight, of all nights, a very important event was occurring; the special sneak-preview for the Icha Icha movie, "Icha Icha: Wave Girls Gone Wild!".

Unbeknownst to Naruto, there was still ONE person left in the tower...

The Hokage was running late to said premier, and he wasn't in all that good of a mood because of it. He wanted front row seats, and it didn't matter which Chuunin or Jounin he had to kick out to get them.

'Stupid Chuunin assistants... they left behind all this work on purpose! They just had to run on out early. Not that I can blame them.'

The Hokage, running down the list of all the things his assistants should have done, came across "Locking the door to the Secret Scroll Room."

'Why on earth do we ever leave that unlocked, anyway? That's kind of stupid.'

Meanwhile, in the Secret Scroll Room.

'Wow, it was awfully convenient that the room was both marked as the Secret Scroll Room, AND it was unlocked. Who leaves such an important door unlocked? Maybe as part of the test, they do so. Now, which scroll was it? Mizuki said it was a huge scroll, and that I couldn't miss it... but there are two really big scrolls? Which should I take; the white one or the yellow one? Meh, white looks more legitimate.'

Just as Naruto picked up the scroll, and prepared to leave, the Hokage walked into the room.

"Naruto? What on earth are you doing in the Secret Scroll Room?"

'Good God, what else is going to stall me? What was next, Konohamaru hiding under the entrance mat? What else is going to pop up? I just want to go to my movie, and have a good time...'

Naruto, caught holding a scroll with his figurative pants down, said the first thing (pretty much the only thing) on his mind.

"I heard there was a scroll with a secret Ramen Jutsu on it, and I must have it!"

"Oh, you heard about that one? Well, carry on then. And lock up on your way out!"

Oddly enough, that made sense to Sarutobi. 'Frankly, I'm surprised he hasn't begged me for it sooner. I mean, it's practically tailor made for him. Ah, well, Naruto can lock up after me, and I'll just run on down to the theater.'

As the Hokage arrived at the premier, a revelation struck him.

'Hey, wait a minute... the scroll with the secret Ramen Jutsu is yellow. The only other giant scroll that we have in that room is the... Forbidden... oh crap. Well, at least all my Jounin are in the premier. Once it ends, I'll mobilize a search.'

Because the Scroll of Forbidden Seals could always be recovered. But the Icha Icha movie special-sneak preview? This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Besides, it's only Naruto... what could HE do with it?

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'I've looked all up and down this scroll, and there isn't a single Ramen Jutsu anywhere! Argh!!! I can't believe Mizuki could lie about something that important! Well, as long as I'm here, I might as well learn something. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? Sounds lame...what else is in here...'

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The sun began to rise, and Naruto had reached a quandary.

'There is not a single cool jutsu ANYWHERE in here. They all say stuff like "Warning: Use this jutsu and you'll probably die." or "Warning: Only a complete idiot would attempt this jutsu." Though, I'm totally going to suggest this 'Neko-ken' training to Sasuke. I think he'd fall for it.

'Man, I'm totally gonna lose to Sasuke if this keeps up... I mean, I kick his ass whenever we fight, but he still acts all smug, because he does better on tests.

'Wait, do I even want to beat him? That'd mean I'm Rookie of the Year, sure, but then I wouldn't be on Kiba and Ino-chan's team…'

It was at this moment, that Iruka arrived into the clearing that Naruto was studying in.

"There you are, Naruto. What the hell possessed you to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals? The word Forbidden is in it for a reason!"

'Crap, now Iruka-sensei is here? This morning sucks. Might as well be honest.'

"Mizuki told me to do it. He said there was a Ramen Jutsu on the scroll, and that'd make me better then Sasuke."

"Naruto... Well, just give me the scroll. I hope that you didn't actually learn anything from it. There are some pretty dangerous jutsus on that scroll, and not many people are even allowed to look at it, much less try to learn something from it. Though I wouldn't expect any student of YOUR caliber to be able to learn anything from that scroll."

Iruka didn't really like Naruto. He could relate to the whole 'prankster' phase that Naruto went through, but he could never see past the Kyuubi that lay in Naruto's stomach. Since Naruto wasn't as demanding of attention, Iruka never really got to know him, or ever really wanted to. Iruka, for one, was rather pleased that he didn't have to acknowledge that his top student for the year was the demon-vessel.

'Oh no he didn't! I'm not taking any kind of bull like that from Iruka-sensei. But I DIDN'T learn anything from that scroll... but he doesn't know that. Hmmm... well, its not like Iruka knows about my abilities with Fire... I can fake that and say I learned its from the scroll!'

"Actually, Iruka-sensei... I did-"

"There you are, Naruto-kun. Just hand me the scroll, and you'll have passed the test."

And Mizuki arrived onto the scene, giant shurikens and all.

"Mizuki? What the hell? This was YOUR doing?" Iruka was stunned. He would never have suspected his co-worker of trying to steal the Forbidden Scroll.

"But shouldn't I demonstrate what I learned from the scroll, first?" Naruto was confused. The way Iruka was acting made him think that his gut instinct about the 'Become the Top Rookie' plan was just BS. That was good... that meant that he could both beat Sasuke ("Haha, what super secret scrolls have YOU stolen lately?"), AND be on Kiba and Ino's team.

"Bah. No academy student could have learned something from that scroll... you're just wasting your time. It's not like you could even become Top Rookie from stealing the scroll. I was just using you."

"But why me? I mean, the whole Hokage Tower was empty. You could have gone in easily by yourself and taken it, and been gone before anyone noticed. I still don't know why the Tower was empty..."

"What, and miss the special-sneak preview of the Icha Icha movie? Not on your life, kid. You're my scapegoat. I'm going to kill you, and Iruka, and hide your body, leaving with the scroll. And no one will ever care, thinking it was YOU who stole the scroll. After all, everyone hates you. Do you even know WHY they hate you?"

Just as Naruto was about to speak up, and tell Mizuki that yes, he knew very well why a lot of villagers disliked him, thank you very much. But Iruka decided to interrupt him.

"Mizuki, you idiot! That's breaking an S-Class Law! You can't tell him. And what's this about killing me? You couldn't kill me if I let you-oomph!"

Mizuki, tired of Iruka's whining, launched one of his ridiculously oversized shuriken at Iruka, hitting him right in the gut. If Iruka hadn't been wearing his Chuunin vest, he'd most likely be dead. As is, it knocked the wind out of him.

"I'll tell you why everyone hates you, Naruto. It's because you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon fox that attacked our village twelve years ago!"

As Mizuki was speaking, Naruto began gathering his flames, and started to release them, just as Gai-sensei showed him...

"You don't think I know about that, idiot? Besides, I'm not the Fox, merely its vessel!"

"Well, if you know, then you realize I'm doing you a favor by killing you. So just lie down and-"

"-Come my Flames-Tsuki wo Tsumu Honoo!"

...And Mizuki was left pretty crispy. Naruto had charged him, ducked down, and launched a monster uppercut that had coated both himself and Mizuki in flames. However, only Mizuki seemed to be hurt by it. Really hurt.

As Iruka stood there, stunned, thinking this was clear proof that the Kyuubi was in control of the brat ('No one, who is so barely out of the Academy, should be able to do a technique THAT strong... and it didn't even seem to have normal hand seals.')

Luckily, before Naruto had to answer any questions, other people began appearing in the clearing, most notably the Hokage.

Naruto was let off without any problems, as this was clearly Mizuki's fault. That, and the Hokage didn't want it to get out that he pretty much let Naruto walk out with the scroll.

"Just don't do it again. And remember to show up for Team Assignments."

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"Come on, Ino-chan, don't worry. You know that Gai-sensei and Kurenai-neesan said they were sure we were going to be on the same team. So stop pacing, and just wait for the announcements!"

"Don't get snippy with me, Naruto-kun. I know you're upset about not learning that secret 'Ramen Jutsu' that you keep on talking about. I think me worrying about teams is much more important then you worrying about ramen."

"Both you guys be quiet. Ino, stop pacing. Naruto, stop whining. It'll only be like fifteen more minutes, and then we can leave."

Naruto, Ino, and Kiba sat in the mostly empty classroom, waiting for Iruka to show up and tell them what teams they are on. All the kids were pretty nervous, as your genin team ends up determining your future path, especially the kind of things you learn.

But all was not well with the Jounin-sensei's, and some last minute changes had to be made.

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"I'm taking the Uzumaki, Yamanaka, and Inuzuka team. That's the only team I'll take."

"Kakashi, we've had you slated to teach the Uchiha for years now. We've even selected the other two senseis around that. You're going to have to give a damn well good reason to take that team, before I let you."

"Hokage-sama, I made a promise to my teacher, the Yondaime, a long time ago that I would teach... Uzumaki. It's not my fault that no one ever asked me."

That was a lie. The Yondaime never would have asked Kakashi to teach the vessel. Unbeknownst to Kakashi, he had actually told Gai to. And teach Naruto Gai had. Kakashi knew there was a lot going on that he didn't understand, especially in regards to his own 'gift' from the Orochi...who or whatever that was. He figured that if he was Naruto's sensei, especially with the other two kids that Gai had taught, he would be able to observe them and learn more on what exactly was going on.

But the Hokage knew none of that. A last wish, a final promise, from the previous Hokage... that was not something that Sarutobi felt he could ignore. So he sighed.

"What do you propose we do about the other teams? If you're so stuck on making us change the teams, you should at least propose the solution."

Kakashi had preplanned a solution, in case the Hokage kept on arguing.

"Give the Uchiha to Asuma. Who's going to say that the son of the Third isn't good enough for the Uchiha? No one can complain, and Asuma can teach him the same things I could. After all, obtaining your sharingan is something that all Uchiha have traditionally done individually. It's not like I could help him there... I wouldn't know how."

Sarutobi thought about it, and thought some more.

"Fine. I can't refuse a request with that much weight behind it. I'll change around the senseis now."

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"That's Team 6. Team 7 will be made up of Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, and Inuzuka Kiba."

Ino cheered, and Naruto and Kiba high-fived. At least that went well.

"Your Jounin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 will be Aburame Shino, Hinata Hyuuga, and Chouji Akamichi. Your sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

Shocked, Naruto leaned over to Kiba. "Kurenai-neesan is teaching this year? Didn't she just become a Jounin?"

"It's news to me too, man."

While they talked, they missed the announcement for Team 9, but they managed to catch Team 10.

"And Team 10 is Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Nara Shikamaru. Your Jounin-sensei is Sarutobi Asuma. That's all the teams. Your Jounin-sensei's will come by in an hour to pick you up, so make sure you're here to meet them."

"Well, guys, if we have the time, we might as well go get some lunch, eh? How about some ramen?"

Author's Notes: And there's more development, back-story, and love for ramen. I realize the ongoing Ramen joke was rather crack-ish, so don't expect much more on that vein in the story. Sadly, my sense of humor is rather attuned to crack, so it's hard for me to insert humor that isn't. But I think it didn't hurt the story too much here. It just won't keep on going.

Comments? Criticism? Proclamations of Undying Love for Ramen? Leave it in a review!


	5. Chapter 4

The newly christened genin sat together in a barbeque restaurant, killing time before they had to go back and meet their new sensei.

Well, new as in the sense he had never taught them anything. But the three children were familiar with the man named Hatake Kakashi.

"Isn't Kakashi that guy who Gai-sensei is always talking about when we're in public?" Kiba asked. "That guy he's always challenging to embarrassing stunts and yelling about and all that?"

"Yeah, that's the one," answered Naruto. "Gai-sensei seems to take some kind of perverse pleasure in messing with him. I did ask him once what the deal with that guy was, like why he always stalks us when we go train."

"What did Gai-sensei say?" Ino had never known that someone was _stalking_ them as they trained. That was pretty creepy... She hoped that her latest sensei wasn't crazy. Or a pervert. A crazy stalking pervert was not something she wanted to deal with on a regular basis.

"He said something about Kakashi trying to take power that was not his. I think it has something to do with the Orochi, but I have no clue how that would happen. Kurenai-neesan said that no one even remembers him anymore, so how could this Kakashi hear of him enough to try to gain powers from him?"

The trio sat discussing this for a time, before finally leaving some cash and getting up to leave. Just as they walked out of the restaurant, another newly christened genin team walked by. The new Team 10 walked by. Or rather, Sasuke walked by, with Sakura angrily dragging Shikamaru behind her.

"Shikamaru, if you don't hurry up, we're going to miss our Sensei! I'm not going to let you ruin that for Sasuke, so hurry up! How can you be so lazy?"

Just as Shikamaru was going to respond to this 'troublesome girl', Sasuke looked up, and saw Naruto in front of the restaurant.

"Hello, Uzumaki. Here to congratulate me on being Rookie of the Year?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto may be strong, but this was proof that Sasuke was the better ninja!

"Bah! That title means nothing, as I've already proven in the past that I can kick the crap out of ya whenever I want. Sure, maybe you can be stealthier, set better traps, and do better on tests... but when it comes to a real fight, we both know who'd come out on top. Same person who always has... me."

The two boys were getting in each others faces now. Sasuke looked ready to fight right here in the street, the fact that Naruto regularly beat Sasuke in spars and such notwithstanding.

"Just you wait until I activate my Sharingan, Uzumaki. Then you'll never stand a chance! Hnn, I'm tired of looking at a loser like you. I'm outta here."

And with that, Sasuke slunk off, with Sakura and Shikamaru following after. 

"I hate that guy. I hate that guy so-."

"DID SOMEONE SAY MY NAME!? DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

"Ow... my head..."

As Naruto picked himself off the ground from Gai's rather surprising entrance, he thanked the powers that be that Gai had waited for Sasuke to leave before doing that.

"Gai-sensei, what do you want? We have to go meet our Jounin-sensei now." Kiba was getting impatient. All these interruptions just seemed to keep on popping up, and he just wanted to get the day over with so he could start doing missions.

"When I heard that your new sensei was my eternal rival, I decided that I needed to have one final class with you. Besides, you have more time then you think... Kakashi is always late. So come with me!"

They knew that arguing with Gai was useless, especially in public. So the genin ran after him to an out of the way training ground.

When they reached a secluded spot, Gai turned, and began to speak.

"Children, now starts a delicate phase in the Orochi's plans. The time of his release is drawing nigh, and nothing can be allowed to go wrong. Now, there are some things you MUST do, if the plans are to continue as they need to.

"First... you are allowed to access your Orochi-given powers, to a small degree, in public now. Start small, and act as if you are developing them further. You can do this around Kakashi, who knows some of what you all can do anyway."

"Wait, you told an outsider about the Hakkeshu? Gai-sensei, that makes no sense!" Naruto was shocked, justifiably so. He had been told for as long as he could remember that no one who could interfere with the plans can be told of the Orochi's existence. And the only people who can't interfere with the Orochi's plans are dead people.

Naruto looked up at Gai, seeing him smirk cruelly. To most, this would be a decidedly un-Gai-ish face. But then, most didn't know the real Gai. This smirk, self-satisfied with making Kakashi do foolish things in the hopes of gaining some secrets of Power, was closer to the real Gai then most ever got the chance to see.

Those who did usually went the way of those who learned of the Orochi's existence.

"Kakashi does not have knowledge of the Hakkeshu, per se. He knows that there are people around who have access to Power. When he was a genin, Kakashi was a student to the Yondaime. From observing him long enough, he discovered- and demanded- the same Power that the Yondaime accessed. I won't go into the details, but it's safe to say that the Orochi found it amusing to gift Kakashi some limited amount of his power.

"However, Kakashi knew not exactly what he was given, and used it only in ways he already knew, not in the way it was supposed to be used. That's why he always watched our training, Naruto-kun. He knew that by watching us, maybe he could learn to access his own-"

"Gai-sensei, I finished running 300 laps! What's next for training?"

'Holy crap, it's a mini-Gai!' Kiba, shocked, could only stare at this sudden interruption.

'That bowl cut... those eyebrows... What are the odds that someone would end up looking so much like Gai-sensei?' Ino was even more stunned then Kiba, as she could barely comprehend someone WANTING to look like Gai.

'... This must be that Rock Lee kid that Gai-sensei mentioned was on his team. I thought he was exaggerating...' Naruto was the least surprised; he had once asked Gai about what his genin team was like. He had thought Gai was over-stating it. But it looked to be the exact opposite.

"Look, students! I had thought this day wouldn't arrive for some time yet! Meet the adorable Rock Lee, one of my genin, one with the Flames of YOUTH!"

Gai had fallen back into his cover-personality, with no signs of the previous smirking present. But there was something different about it...

"It looks like our time will be cut short then, as I must supervise his training. You all run along, and meet up with my eternal rival. We must be off to train!"

And with that, Gai and Lee ran off. On their hands.

"Well, that was odd, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Ino. We might as well take his advice and head back to the academy. Hopefully he was being honest and Kakashi really hasn't shown up yet."

As Kiba and Ino began to walk, they noticed that Naruto was still in the clearing, standing shocked.

"Yo, Naruto, what's the hold-up? You coming or what?"

Naruto was looking off to where Gai and Lee had run off to, mumbling to himself.

"That... That was the most honest expression I've ever seen on Gai's face. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy..."

"Did you just say something, Naruto?" Ino asked. She had heard him mumbling to himself, but didn't catch anything he said. Nor had Kiba, for that matter.

"... Nothing, never mind. Let's get a move on it."

As the three genin made their way back through the woods towards the Academy, Kakashi removed his covering genjutsu.

'Damn Gai... He knows I'm here, and he knows that I know that he knows I'm here. Why on earth would he let me hear that? There has to be a reason he didn't use some kind of covering jutsu. But at least now I have some more information to go on, this Hakkeshu that caused so much distress in my genin. I'll have to investigate that now too, and I hope it pans out better then 'Orochi' did.'

With that, Kakashi shunshin-ed away, to be ready when the genin arrived at the academy.

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"Well, we're only twenty minutes late. And it looks like Gai was right, and Kakashi isn't here yet either. We might as well just wait." With that, Naruto sat down at a desk. Ino went over to sit by a window, and Kiba sat with his head on the desk to nap.

-Two hours later-

"This is ridiculous! Where the hell is he? We already checked the whole damn building for genjutsus, so we know he's not just hiding. Is he really just that irresponsible?" Naruto was furious. How were they supposed to learn anything from this guy if he didn't even show up?

"Well, what can we do about it? It's not like he's here for us to beat up, or anything. We just have to wait for him... THEN kick his ass for making us wait. Akamaru has needed to go for a walk for like an hour now, and I haven't been able to take him because this guy decided to be late." 

Kiba was in the most unique circumstance, out of all the Hakkeshu. He was the only one who had seriously integrated a whole fighting style with his Hakkeshu abilities, instead of just creating/using a fighting style based around those abilities. Akamaru was just as much a part of his talents, as was his blood. And as it always had been, since his line had adopted the ninken that marked the Inuzuka.

Two families of the Orochi-blooded had integrated directly AS families into ninja society. The Yamanaka and the Inuzuka created bloodline techniques, some based off their hereditary powers, but most not. As time went on, they drifted further away from the Orochi, and further expounded on their own family jutsu, taking them away from the powers they were born with.

But they never wholly forgot. And when new Hakkeshu began appearing, they responded, as they had been taught by clan lore. Though they did not take a direct hand in the training of their children in their Orochi-bon powers, the Inuzuka DID instill the clan jutsu into Kiba, as their abilities meshed rather well with his other skills.

Unfortunately for Ino, the Yamanaka jutsu did not.

Just as Kiba was going to get up, and walk Akamaru anyway, Kakashi walked in the front door.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" All three genin shouted.

"Well, I was walking down the road, and a little girl had lost her mommy...so I had to-"

"Liar," muttered Naruto. 'I might have believed him if he said Gai intercepted him, but a little girl needed to find her mom?'

"Well, let's meet on the roof, where we can introduce ourselves."

And with that, Kakashi poofed out of the room. The three genin, grumbling, made their way to the top after him.

"We might as well introduce ourselves. You with the dog, go first."

"Uhh, I think all of us know each other. It's you we don't know. Why don't you introduce yourself first, then we'll know how to tell you about ourselves." Kiba stalled, as he had no clue what to say. 'Introduce ourselves? He has to know our names, at least. What the heck does he want?

As the introductions proceeded, following Kakashi's incredibly vague format, Naruto wondered on something Gai had said. They were allowed to access their Orochi powers, but Gai had said to 'start small'. But the very nature of Naruto's abilities, amplified by the Kyuubi, did not allow him to do things 'small'. He could do 'medium', but nothing that could be called small.

'Well, I suppose I could get away with it with no problems if people just assume it's the Kyuubi's power I'm using. Kurenai-neesan once mentioned that being a jinchuriki lends certain advantages to the host, so I might as well make an excuse out of the Kyuubi.'

As Naruto finished up his thoughts, Kakashi began his explanation of the 'Genin Final Test'.

"What? But haven't we passed enough tests?" This irritated Ino, as she had been given no warning of extra tests. 'Why the heck didn't Gai-sensei tell us about this?'

"That test was only to see who had the potential to be a genin. Only Nine out of the graduating class will become genin. Meet me at 8 am tomorrow, at the training ground by the memorial. And don't eat- you might throw up!"

And with that, Kakashi disappeared.

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Eight A.M rolled around, and all three of the genin in Team 7 were present at the Training Grounds. Yet, the fourth member of the team was not present.

"This going to become a regular thing, isn't it? Why did we even bother coming on time, if he isn't going to be here?" 

So the twelve year olds sat down, waiting nervously for their sensei.

None of the adults they knew were willing to tell them anything about the test, usually saying some variation of "If you can't pass this test, you don't deserve to be a team." Some added reassurances (Kurenai: "I'm sure with the way you've all trained together, you'll pass just fine"), and some just laughed at them (Anko:" Buwahahaha! No one has ever passed Kakashi's genin test before! Have fun, kiddies!").

'Man, I just want to get this over with. If they only pass three teams, then we're fine, because we're the best team they assembled from this years graduates!' Naruto thought, trying to reassure himself. The reason he wanted to get this over with was because he had decided to take Kakashi's advice, and not eat beforehand.

Finally at around 10:00, Kakashi finally made his entrance.

"Sorry about that, but as I was on my over here, I saw a fire break out in somebody's house, so I had to go help them-"

"LIAR!" three voices screamed out at once.

"Well, we might as well begin this test." With that, Kakashi reached into his pouch, and pulled out two bells, as well as a small alarm clock he put down onto a tree stump. As he tied the bells to his waist, he continued, "To pass, all you have to do is get a bell. Whoever doesn't get a bell not only fails, and will be sent back to the Academy."

Naruto, Ino and Kiba all looked at each other, before Kiba piped up, "Wait, there are only two bells? Only two people can pass? Then how the hell do you get three teams of genin if only two can actually pass from a team?"

"You'll see if you manage to get a bell. Now, you have until noon to get a bell. Begin!"

With that, the three genin disappeared into the surrounding trees. Kakashi leaned against a tree, took out his book, and began to read. As he read, though, he thought 'I have to give them this test to keep up appearances, as it'd look suspicious if I decided to let them pass where no other team has been allowed to. But if they fail, I won't be able to use them to access more of my power. So damnit, kids, do SOMETHING that I can reward ya with."

As Kakashi continued to read, his potential genin met up in a clearing a distance away.

"Well, what the heck do we do now?" Naruto was confused; from what everyone had ever said, you only change genin teams if someone on the old team dies.

"And if only two of us can pass, why would Gai-sensei and Anko-san want us to be all on the same team now? That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, Ino... There's gotta be more to this. But what? Man, I hate stuff like this. I say we just all attack, try to get the bells, and sort it out from there. If there's more to the test, it'll come up then."

"Sounds good to me, Kiba. Here's what we'll do. I'll rush in from the front, and just use some Taijutsu. After a couple attacks, I'll use one of my special techniques. That's the signal for you to come in from the side, Ino. Just come in and blast him, but only if he dodges away from me or if I hit him with the attack. If he stays too close to me, I'll jump back, and THEN you blast him. Kiba, after he starts turning to Ino, run in and try to get the bells. If he dodges or stops you, just use one of your techniques, which will give me an opening to grab 'em. If none of that works, well, we're screwed."

With that, they split up and ran off, back in the direction they came.

When he reached the clearing where Kakashi was, Naruto found the man reading. 'Well, if he's gonna give me an opening like this, I might as well take it.'

With a silent thought of 'Shooting Dancer Thrust!' Naruto launched his attack at Kakashi.

"Below you!" 

'Hmm, I figured Naruto would be first. But this is strange... I've never seen Gai use that move before. It's most definitely not a part of his Taijutsu style. As Kakashi thought this, blocking Naruto's attacks with ease, Naruto quickly powered up an attack.

'Hope you're paying attention, Ino.'

"Kagami wo Hofuru Honoo!"

'Holy crap, he did that without hand seals! Gotta dodge the kid on fire!'

Just as he jumped in the air, over the charging form of Naruto, Ino made her move.

"Mu Getsu no Raigumo!"

A sphere of lightning launched itself at Kakashi, who was still in midair.

'Where the hell did she come from? I hope this is some kind of planned attack. That'd give me an excuse to pass them.'

Kakashi kawamiri'ed away, causing Ino to fry a poor, innocent log. Unfortunately for Kakashi, he reappeared right next to the tree that Kiba was hiding behind.

Akamaru launched himself at Kakashi's head, while Kiba made a dive for the bells. Kakashi dodged to the side, causing Akamaru to be on one side of him and Kiba to be on the other.

Kiba jumped into the air, while Akamaru ran and dived low at Kakashi's legs.

"Saku-Bu Combo!"

Kakashi, paying more attention to Kiba's flying punch, almost completely missed the little dog diving at his legs. This caused Kiba to not completely miss his attack, and let him get a grip on Kakashi. Using his hold, he threw Kakashi up in the air. Kakashi promptly recovered from the throw in mid-air, and began to angle himself into a proper landing. Naruto didn't give him the chance, though.

"Tsuki O Tsumu Honoo!" Naruto blasted up into the air, meeting Kakashi's landing with a flaming uppercut.

As Kakashi dodged around yet another special move, he smacked Naruto down to the ground.

'Does Naruto ever use Hand seals? Maybe that's part of their power...'

However, as Kakashi was contemplating this, Ino had gotten closer and made a grab for the bells.

Right as her hand was about to grab them, though, the timer went off.

"Well, it looks like none of you managed to get a bell. That means none of you pass. But-"

As Kakashi started to go into his spiel about how important teamwork was, and that he was going to pass them on that, Naruto interrupted.

"That's because your test was stupid! Why on earth would you break us up into teams of three only to not let all of us pass from there? We're clearly a good team, even if we weren't able to get one of your stupid bells. Allowing none of us to pass, just because we weren't able to get a little bell from a Jounin, is dumb. Especially when we could kick the ass of any other genin that graduated with us."

"... Right. If I may continue? Now, as you mentioned before, getting a bell from a Jounin isn't quite a good test for potential genin. What IS a good test is how they attempt to get the bell. You three demonstrated clear teamwork, even after being told that one of you would fail even if your teamwork succeeded."

'So wait, is he saying we all passed some stupid secret test?' As Naruto was trying to figure out what exactly Kakashi was saying, and if that meant that they all did manage to succeed.

As Kakashi was about to go into his 'hero's memorial' speech, Naruto once again interrupted.

"So, does that mean we pass? Cuz it sounded like you said we all passed."

"... Yes, Naruto, you all passed. Now, back to what I was-"

"YES! We kick ass!"

"Score! Man, I'm so hungry. You guys up for some lunch?"

"Sure, as long as we don't go for Ramen."

"But Ino-chan..."

Seeing that his Genin weren't even pretending to listen to him anymore, Kakashi just decided to screw it, and wrap it up.

"Just meet me back here tomorrow for our first day of missions."

With that, Kakashi poofed away. He had a lot to think about, with some of the abilities his students demonstrated.

'I know that sensei said that the 'Orochi' gifted me with a little power, but how does that compare to my students'? Can I apply it the same ways they do, or will it work differently?'

And so the new Team Seven wandered off, to go celebrate their victory.

Move list used thus far

Naruto: Shooting Dancer Thrust: Naruto lunges forward, strikes with his arm, then follows up with a low kick or punch attack.

Kagami wo Hofuru Honoo: Naruto lunges forward, with his hand covered in fire, and smacks his opponent, who gets lit on fire before hitting the ground.

Tsuki O Tsumu Honoo: Essentially a Shoryuken that is covered with flames.

Ino: Mu Getsu no Raigumo: A sphere of lightning that can travel wherever she wants to send it (in the game, it would end up in four different spots depending on which button you used, but that doesn't really translate well into fights not confined to 2D).

Kiba: Saku-Bu Combo: Saku and Bu are actually two different moves of Yashiro's, but having Akamaru lets Kiba combine the two into one. Saku is essentially just a downward aerial punch, and Bu is a long range low kick.

Authors Notes: Well, there's some more insight into Gai and Kakashi, as well as revealing exactly which Hakkeshu Ino and Kiba were replacing (though it was fairly obvious). It also explained a little about Kiba and Ino's families.

As for the bell test, I tried to make it as accurate as possible (though I may have misused some of the KOF attacks). I also tried to make sure it didn't seem like the genin were able to defeat Kakashi… He held them off easily, though Kiba came the closest to actually hurting him.

Comments? Criticisms? Leave reviews : ).


	6. Chapter 5

"If we have to chase down that stupid cat one more time, I'm gonna blow something up!"

The next morning, the new Team Seven had gathered by the Memorial. After waiting an hour for Kakashi, they started their first mission. Then wished they hadn't.

After the first week of missions, the genin were irritated.

After the second week, they were downright furious.

'I thought that once I became a ninja, I'd be doing, ya know, _ninja stuff_. Like assassinating people, or stealing stuff... things that the general populace can't do, things that require special training. Not fixing roofs, or gardening.'

While Ino continued to yell at Kakashi, Iruka, the Hokage, and anyone unfortunate enough to walk by, and Kiba was thinking on what it meant to be a shinobi, Naruto tried to puzzle out a way to get better missions.

'Anko-neesan always said to threaten people to get what you want, cuz if they were afraid you were gonna do something to them, they'd do what you want. But Kurenai-neesan always said it was better to trick them into doing what you want, so they didn't feel the need to get revenge later for your threats. There's no way that I'm gonna try Gai-sensei's advice... I don't want to get THAT kind of reputation, if I don't have to.'

Iruka, who had managed to quiet the screeching Ino, began his lecture on the various levels of missions, and why it was so important that they start out small and work their way up. Naruto turned, seeing Kakashi break out his book, and begin to read.

'Anko-neesan's way it is.'

"Kakashi-sensei... If you don't get us a better mission, I'll burn all your books," Naruto stated in a serious tone.

Without even batting an eye, Kakashi turned to the Hokage, and said in a solemn tone, "Hokage-sama, my team is ready for a C-Rank mission."

'At least if they're fighting, they use their abilities. I already managed to work a little something up with my 'gift', but I need to see more before I can completely work it out.'

The Hokage looked a tad surprised at Kakashi's proclamation, but took him at his word. 'He must be taking Naruto's training seriously, then, and holding up his promise. I should respect that, I suppose.'

"Well, if you say they are ready, Kakashi, I'll assign your team the next C-rank up on the docket. Tazuna, if you would care to join us?"

Iruka's jaw dropped at the Hokage just letting the fresh team get a C-rank mission, while the kids cheered.

Tazuna walked into the rooms, dressed shabbily with his straw hat and faint odor of alcohol. Not much of a sight to take in, but if this guy was paying them to do real ninja work, the genin didn't care what he looked like.

"Your mission is to escort this man to wave, and protect him as he builds a bridge. Since it's a C-rank mission, expect to fight bandits and the like. You leave in two hours."

"These kids are supposed to protect me? They don't look like they could fight their way out of a paper bag!"

Before his team could make a loud (and probably violent) protest at Tazuna's proclamation, Kakashi stepped forward.

"Don't worry, they are full ninja. They can easily handle any bandits that come your way. And if they get in over their heads, I'm a Jounin and I'll be there too. Team seven, go get your equipment and meet at the gates in an hour and a half.'

With that, Team Seven left.

'I just hope they're up to it... I wish I could afford more money, but those kids are all I could get.'

The genin made their way back to their homes to gather up all the necessary equipment for an extended mission, and Naruto went to tell Gai that they would be out of town and wouldn't be able to train.

"Oh, so you'll be out of the country, will you? This presents some... opportunities," Gai said.

"Opportunities? What do ya mean?"

"You'll see... be on the lookout. You'll know when he shows up. Now go on and meet your team."

Naruto walked away, turning back to shout goodbye to Gai. Gai, he noticed, had a decidedly _odd_ gleam in his eyes as he looked at Naruto, even as was waving wildly in a classic-Gai manner.

'Quite an opportunity, indeed.'

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"Tell me again why we have to travel to Wave Country, Kisame."

"I already told you, Itachi, that this is personal business. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Orders are orders, and our leader said we were partners. We are to travel together for the foreseeable future, and that means on your 'personal business' as well."

'YOUR leader, maybe, but not mine. But it suits our needs for me to remain a part of this organization, so I'll have to play along. I'll just have to make sure Itachi doesn't meet up with the young Hakkeshu... It wouldn't do to have him try to kidnap Naruto.

'This will give me an opportunity to finally test them, though. With Gai as their teacher, they should have come out ok. If I get the chance, I'll see how good a job he did.

'They also need to learn some more of their duties. I know Kurenai and Anko were weary of telling them the full extent of our task, as that might drive them to rebelling. But they DO need to know some of it, and it'll make my job easier if they are receptive to it.

'After all, they do have a role to play, that's as or perhaps even more important then my own. It's a pity that the Yondaime did not survive to oversee his plan to fruition. But as it's my job now, I have to be careful and make sure that nothing goes wrong.

'Especially with some of the news that Anko just dug up... thrice-damned Hyuuga, they couldn't even kill their enemies right. Even worse, they themselves haven't produced a ninja on the magnitude that the Yata and Kusanagi managed to, and they outnumbered the tattered remains of those two families greatly.

'At least it seems that one of them doesn't know, or at the least care, about his ancestry or what they did... but the other... we'll have to watch him.'

"Did you say something, Kisame?"

"No... Let's get a move on it!"

'Besides, what are the chances that both Orochimaru AND Jiraiya will be present in Konoha come the chuunin exams?'

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"Kukukuku! Kabuto, how are the negotiations with the Sand going?"

"All is on schedule, Orochimaru-sama."

"And has any new information come in from Konoha?"

"Ahh... well, there's some bad news, there. An unknown found one of our men, and managed to get him to squeal a little, before the man managed to kill himself."

"Great, just great. If it wasn't one of the Hyuuga, who would care what we are doing? Well, it's too late for us to stop now. What exactly did they learn?"

Orochimaru had always wondered at his parents sense of irony in naming him. As the last Kusanagi, and sole-inheritor to his families legacy, his family chose to give him the least likely name for anyone to ever guess his background.

Of course, his parents did not have much time before their untimely death to tell him much of the families techniques. He did know where the families sword, the Kusanagi Blade, was hidden, but that was all.

The not-knowing of his families techniques was one of the defining factors for Orochimaru's entire life. Driven to learn his families techniques, he sought out EVERY technique he could, learning more and more to substitute what he himself was missing. And each technique, each jutsu he learned from every master and hermit led him closer and closer to what he wanted; for he knew that someone out there knew where his families techniques were hidden. Techniques he would need if he ever wanted to gain revenge on the Hyuuga family, the backstabbing traitors who destroyed his ancestors for no reason.

Unfortunately for Orochimaru, he knew nothing of the Orochi, his plan, or his people. He knew that at one time the Orochi clans existed, but he thought that they had been lost to history.

Orochimaru did know of the legendary Shinji Trioca families, the Yasakani (now Hyuuga), the Yata, and his own Kusanagi. His own extensive research led him straight to the last Yata survivor, a fact that gave Orochimaru daily headaches.

'Why, of all people, did the one person that I figured to be able to help me have to be one of the people who not only irritates me the most in the world, but also someone I managed to alienate years ago?'

It's not like Jiraiya fit the mold of the typical shrine-keeper. In fact, he was essentially the anti-priest. The man wrote porn for a living, for Gods sake! Orochimaru had expected to find an old man living somewhere in the mountains, who he could give the recovered Yata Mirror to for safe-keeping.

Instead, he would have to entrust the maintenance of a holy seal to JIRAIYA?

It was one of the greater ironies that Orochimaru found, that Jiraiya was telling the whole goddamned truth whenever he did his silly introduction dance. He practically shouted to the world that he was the 'Holy Hermit' of some place or other. Most just ignored it, after listening to Jiraiya talk for awhile... but the fact that it was actually true blew Orochimaru's mind when he first discovered it.

'One has to work with what one has, unfortunately. Just convincing Jiraiya that he has to stay up in that mountain of his with a mirror will probably be the hardest part of the whole invasion.'

For Orochimaru, unlike the Hyuuga, knew that the seal was created in such a way that it could only be completely maintained by one of the Yata blood.

He knew that the Orochi would be able to break free, given enough time. He just didn't know how much time was left before the Orochi could break free. And there was no way he'd let that happen.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru was unaware of how little time he had left.

He just knew that it didn't matter how many bodies he had to steal to prolong his life, how many people he had to kill to get the seal. It had to be done, and that was that.

Konoha had never understood the experiments he performed, to try to empower people with abilities that would be useful in fighting the Orochi. Of course, the fact that they usually ended up killing or mutilating people was just part of how things had to be, to Orochimaru. Making an omelet, and such.

That's how it had always been with the Kusanagi of recent descent. They had moved to Konoha, to not just observe the Hyuuga and wait for an opportunity, but to also observe the Shodai and Nidaime, who bore powers that resembled some of the historical abilities of the Orochi itself. Though after intense investigation, the two were found to be completely isolated incidents, the Kusanagi stayed to observe the Hyuuga.

Orochimaru's intense interest in the Shodai's powers were a direct result of these investigations by his family, one of the few family documents he could dig up after their death. Of course, Konoha had to find him before he could complete his own experiments.

The fact that Orochimaru himself would also be destroying Konoha, as well as establishing himself as one of the most powerful men in the world, was merely icing on the cake. He would avenge his family, his whole history, no matter the cost.

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"Ack! Pervert! There's a pervert out there!"

'Heh, I love it! They never seem to learn that they only see me when I let them. Just bathing, they're beautiful... but when they run around, bouncing... that's when they become gorgeous!'

Jiraiya was a pervert. He was THE pervert. He invented whole techniques that let him become a better pervert. He initially studied the art of sealing to master more of his perverted art.

For while Orochimaru, in his own strange way, sought to validate his family and avenge them, Jiraiya did his best to forget them, and become everything they told him he shouldn't be.

Like the Kusanagi, the Yata had been wiped out to a single family line. After the Yasakani-turned-Hyuuga had destroyed their family shrine, the last remaining Yata moved to Mt. Myobokugama, and established a new shrine. There they lived, raising their first born son to be the next Shrine Master, while sending off the rest of their sons to become useful in other places. The Yata had produced soldiers, scholars, architects, and most recently, ninjas.

Jiraiya was the second born, and thus sent off to the nearest ninja village. However, soon after becoming a genin, he received word that his brother, his only sibling, had contracted a fatal disease, and that Jiraiya had to return home to take his place.

Jiraiya, though, didn't want that. He had just become a ninja, and there was no way he was going back! Back in his home, there were no women... in his time in Konoha, he had come to have an appreciation that bordered on worship of the female species, and he wasn't going to give that up now.

He did have one thing to thank his family for, though... the Toad summoning contract was something that came into the family in the past century, and when Jiraiya was sent off to Konoha, they gave it to him to have some kind of edge against the other academy students.

His family grew increasingly upset that he refused to return home, and take up his proper place as the next shrine keeper. He had been taught the basic lessons of priesthood, but nowhere near enough to call himself a priest. His parents were old when they bore him, and were well past childbearing age when his brother died.

Jiraiya was being taught by the best of the best, and refused to give up his newfound way of life for an old one that he never really enjoyed.

They tried to force him back, petitioning the Leaf to release him to them and send him home. This made Jiraiya resent them more, and he began to act even more un-priestly, to the extent that he developed the pervert persona that everyone knew him as.

At the age of 14, he received word that his parents were dead.

That was the last time he returned home, to partake in their funeral. It was the last, and only time he ever acted the priest that his blood said he was.

When he returned to Konoha, he was even more of a goof and a pervert then ever before. He never told anyone, other then Sarutobi, his teacher, and Orochimaru, his best friend, anything about his family. Even then, he never told them his last name.

It was a last name he had forsaken to remain a ninja, and it was the only piece of himself he refused to tarnish with his reputation of being a pervert.

He was content with just being 'Jiraiya'. He was proud being 'Densetsu no Sannin no Jiraiya'. He greatly enjoyed his life as the author of Icha Icha Paradise.

But being Kagura Jiraiya, last of the Yata, was something that he doubted he'd ever be again.

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Team Seven met up with Tazuna and Kakashi at the front gate, and promptly left for the mission.

"So, uh, why exactly are you building the bridge, Tazuna-san?"

As Tazuna launched himself into a lecture about the importance of the bridge, and how super cool it would be, Naruto's mind wandered. 'Geez, Ino-chan, you really had to get him going, didn't ya?'

He was feeling rather paranoid about this opportunity that Gai had mentioned. Whenever Gai got weird about anything, Naruto would have to do stupid stuff. Though the way he was phrasing it made Naruto think something important was going to happen.

There was also the mystery of why Gai reacted as strongly and _honestly_ as he did around that Lee kid. 'Heck, everything about Gai-sensei has been pretty weird lately. I just hope this doesn't end up poorly for me... I haven't had a chance to tell Kiba and Ino-chan about what Gai-sensei was saying.'

So it went, with Tazuna lecturing about the importance of bridges, Ino wishing she hadn't asked, Kiba talking (or pretending to) with Akamaru, Kakashi reading, and Naruto thinking.

So deep in thought was Naruto that he didn't even notice the puddle of water he stepped around.

So it came a complete shock to him when he saw two ninjas appear out of nowhere and seemingly rip apart his sensei.

'Holy crap! Where the hell did those two come from?'

Before he had any more time to think, the two began rushing at him. Well, actually, they were rushing at Tazuna, who was standing directly behind Naruto, but he didn't know that.

All he saw were these two bastards who had just tore apart his sensei, and they were coming for him.

Naruto reacted without even thinking.

"Taiyou o Iru Honoo!"

Shocked at the sudden fireball flying at them, the two attackers leaped to dodge. Unfortunately, though there chain had length to spare for them to be moving apart, the chain was not fireproof. Or meltproof. Or incinerate proof, which happened to be the important type of proofing they could have used.

Thus they were rather surprised when their chain just dissolved, from the intense heat of the flame.

So surprised, in fact, that neither noticed Ino coming in from the side.

"Shajitsu no Odori!" One electrified spin-kick later, the first attacker smacked directly into the second, sending them both into a tree.

Kakashi immediately poofed back into existence, replacing a nearby log. He proceeded to die up the two ninjas.

He, however, gave no explanation at what had just happened.

"Sensei? But didn't you just die?"

"... No, Naruto, I let them think they got me, so that I could determine their true target. We'll leave these two here for the ANBU to come pick up."

'And, of course, to observe you children use your power. The more I see of it, the more I learn. And the more I learn, the more I can use. Letting you fight these fights only works to my advantage.'

"But you, Tazuna... you have some explaining to do."

New Techniques!

Naruto: Taiyou o Iru Honoo- Sun Frying Blaze. A Fireball that appears a certain distance away from Naruto, and then proceeds to fly straight forward.

Ino: Shajitsu no Odori-Dance of Realism. Or an Electric Spin Kick. Pretty self explanatory there.

Author's Notes: More Backstory here. It's rather necessary, to put the characters into perspective of how they would act due to the fusion. I really really like the Jiraiya part, myself... It makes so much sense for his character to begin with, to me.

Comments? Criticisms? Leave Reviews!


	7. Chapter 6

"So that's why I have to build this bridge..."

Tazuna's story was a touching one, indeed.

A bit over the top, but the genin were still young, and didn't notice some of the blatantly overdramatic things he was saying as such.

Kakashi was a different story.

'My team is clearly above average in fighting, and I can handle just about anything that comes along. But is it worth the risk that they might die before I get enough chance to study them?'

Seeing Kakashi's frown, the genin mistook its meaning.

"Kakashi-sensei, we have to take this mission! I'm not gonna go back to Konoha, quitting on my first C-rank! Besides, it sounds like Wave Country really needs us!"

'Hmm... Putting them in life threatening situations might actually be the key to my dilemma... they'd naturally draw on more of their power, and then...'

"Ok, Tazuna. We will continue the mission, but only on the promise that you pay the correct fee when you get the chance. As of now, it's at least B-ranked."

And so the mission continued.

They crossed the short distance of water between Fire and Wave Countries, and began walking towards Tazuna's village.

Until Akamaru decided that rabbit made a good meal.

White Snow Rabbit, in particular.

As the rabbit dove out of the bush it was in, towards the nearby clearing with lake, with Akamaru yapping after it, Kakashi realized the significance of its color.

"Everyone! Get down!"

Kakashi tackled Tazuna to the ground, while everyone else dove out of the way; Out of the way of an enormous flying sword.

Everyone jumped to their feet, ready for battle.

Kakashi motioned to the genin, having recognized their foe.

"Stop everybody. This guy is too much for you. Leave him to me.

"Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist. What are you doing here?"

With that, Kakashi stepped forward, raising his Hitai-ate. In another time, this would garner gasps of shock. Here, no one on his team understood the significance of the action, or what he was hiding behind his forehead protector.

"Sharingan Kakashi... Using it so soon? I'm honored."

The mist thickened. The battle began.

To Tazuna, nothing was happening.

To the genin, it seemed as if the two were just running around, vying for an advantageous position.

To the two Jounin, it was a high-speed battle between Kakashi and Zabuza's water clones, with Kakashi having to maintain a defensive position around Tazuna at all times.

The odds _were_ stacked against him, after all.

And because of that fact, because he had to not only fight Zabuza, but also ensure he didn't kill Tazuna or his genin, Kakashi made a mistake.

He fell for Zabuza's Suiro no Jutsu.

Or so it seemed to Zabuza.

For Kakashi, this was his way of forcing his team into a life or death situation, to force them into revealing their skills.

With his growing control over his own gift, Kakashi had been easily able to follow Zabuza, and was able to foil his attacks while making it seem difficult.

He let himself be trapped, in a trap he could easily break out of, for the chance to claim more power.

Of course, the act of breaking out would reveal his hand to Team Seven... but it was worth the risk.

And, as was usual for Kakashi, his plan worked.

Zabuza couldn't resist the chance to taunt the genin. Back in _his_ day, these kids wouldn't have stood a chance in the academy, much less the real world.

And, being an older man, it was his obligation to lecture the children on their faults, and how much better things were in 'his day'.

It's sad, a world at the age of 26 you could claim that you used to live in the 'good old days', and be telling the truth.

Zabuza's words merely enraged the genin, though.

They had worked goddamn hard for what they had, and they had the power to prove it.

Who was this random _human_ to tell them otherwise?

And so, when Zabuza sent out the water clone to attack, it met a rather sudden demise.

"Mu Getsu no Raigumo!"

Ino launched a ball of electricity at the clone.

Kiba stayed back, because he had two sets of eyes to watch Tazuna with.

And Naruto rushed forward, straight at Zabuza. He leapt into the air, gathering his energy to perform his next attack.

Zabuza laughed, and knocked Naruto away with the flat of his sword before he could complete his attack.

"Hah! Is that the best you got? Kids like you have no place on the battlefield! Go home and get yourself a job suited to ya. Maybe knitting or something. I'd be doing you a favor if I killed ya!"

Naruto had worked hard for his skills. And this... this... eye-brow-less _freak_ was gonna tell him that he had no pace in the ninja world?

Kakashi could only stare as Naruto's skin began to tan, and his hair began to stand a little straighter. Neither fully completed... but it was more then Kakashi had ever seen before.

And with his Sharingan activated, he could literally see how the energy within Naruto was twisting, how it was working. How it was preparing Naruto's next technique. But Kakashi could tell, somehow, that it wasn't completely activating.

It took all of Kakashi's considerable will-power to continue the facade of being captured, and not flee right then and there.

Zabuza could only stare at the weird genin, as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Subconsciously, he knew something was happening. It just took further signals for him to realize what… Which Naruto was quick in relaying.

For, as Ino stood in awe, and Tazuna wet his pants, Naruto's entire body lit up on fire.

Naruto began to rush forward once again, but at a much faster pace, shouting.

"Daichi o Harau Gouka!"

He ran on top of the water, literally burning a path straight to Zabuza. Steam was rising up all around him, adding even more to the deadly vision. The fire had risen a little ways from his skin, forming a shield around the boy.

Zabuza had no choice. He had to let go of the Water Prison. The aura of flames covering the boy, radiating menace... he knew he didn't want to test this technique.

He dropped the water prison. Kakashi immediately dove to the side, determined not to miss anything about this technique.

Zabuza was too late to fully dodge the attack, though. The best he could do was attempt to deflect it with his Zanbato.

Just as the attack was about to hit, Naruto leapt up into the air, attempting to come down with a massive punch.

The shield of flames continued to travel, unabated, directly at Zabuza.

Zabuza wasn't an expert sword fighter for nothing, though. He spun as he dodged, bringing the sword from an outstretched swing to close into his body, point up. He was attempting to deflect the ring of flames, then spear the boy as he descended.

Unfortunately, though, the sword did not fare so well. The entire top quarter of the sword melted from the flames, and Naruto's hand, still holding residual heat, grossly deformed the sword further. Instinctively, he swung his sword, flinging Naruto onto the bank of the lake.

Zabuza leapt away, in shock. That attack would have incinerated him, if it had hit. He was too shaken to continue the fight now, and needed to regroup, and reconsider just who was a threat here.

"Perhaps we'll meet another day... but for now, Kakashi, I have to get my sword fixed."

With a hand signal to Haku, hiding off to the side, Zabuza shunshined away.

Kakashi, after lowering his forehead protector, walked over to where Naruto stood, powered down. Naruto was kneeling and breathing raggedly, gasping for air. He had risked one of his ultimate attacks, and it had taken a lot out of him. The fact that it had failed to kill his foe was neigh unthinkable.

'So, he can power himself up further... and he didn't even use any of the Kyuubi's power there. That was purely the work of this 'Orochi'... but I think I'm starting to see how to do this...'

As Kakashi's thoughts ran far ahead of himself, Ino made her way over quickly to Naruto's side. Kiba, with Tazuna, followed shortly thereafter.

Ino helped Naruto to his feet. She also began to scold him.

"Naruto, you know better then to try something like THAT yet! You know that you need permission-"

Before Ino could say anything too revealing in front of Kakashi or Tazuna (Naruto, even with Gai's permission, still felt uncomfortable about talking about Orochi matters in front of those not of the blood), Naruto interrupted her.

"I had to try something, Ino. You saw how he had Kakashi-sensei!"

"Well, now you'll need to rest. Full bed rest for at least a day, ya here!"

"Ahem... we are rather close to my house. We can make it there rather easily."

The group left the scene, with Kiba and Ino supporting Naruto as they walked.

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'It's the biggest risks that gain the biggest rewards... but perhaps this last one was pushing it?'

Kakashi stood outside Tazuna's home, standing guard. Ino was upstairs with Naruto, ensuring he got his bed rest. Kiba was downstairs eating dinner with Tazuna and Tsunami.

Kakashi had excused himself, to take some time to think.

'Perhaps letting myself be trapped like that wasn't such a good idea... but then again, everything worked out fine. Besides, I could have escaped any time I wanted to.'

Of late, Kakashi had begun to notice a disturbing trend in his own actions. He had been taking greater risks then he normally would, with this latest one taking the cake.

'But it DID work, and now... now I have something very solid to work with. And I'll soon have the power...'

Kakashi had grown up with the stigma of his father. He had thrown himself into his work, becoming the best ninja he could be. He lived his life by the book, to ensure that he did a better job protecting Konoha then his father ever did.

But Kakashi soon began to feel that it wasn't enough. He was strong, no doubt about it, but he lacked the advantages that a lot of ninjas had. He didn't have a fancy bloodline, or any special jutsus. All he had was a chakra sword his father left behind, and that was the kind of thing he didn't like being linked to, anyway. He was going out of his way to prove that he was better then his father, not use his tools.

So Kakashi began to observe the strongest ninjas he could, to try to figure out how it was that they were so strong. And he would then take those methods, and use them himself, becoming the strong protector he felt he should be.

Naturally, the first person he looked to was the Yondaime, his sensei.

And after a period of observation, he noticed a special power that the Yondaime seemed to have. The wind seemed to answer to his call with the greatest of ease.

At first, Kakashi thought it was merely some kind of bloodline trick... but after overhearing a conversation between the Yondaime and Gai... he knew it was something else.

So the confrontation between Kakashi and the Yondaime went down, and the Yondaime completely misunderstood Kakashi's intentions. That didn't stop him from taking his eye, or gifting him with a little of the Orochi's power.

Kakashi, too, completely misunderstood the gift, thinking it was merely some kind of enhanced Nature Manipulation trick. He managed to work out a trick of converting the power into a substitute eye for the one he lost, while also beginning to wear his forehead protector in his signature manner. Most people don't even remember that he did that before gaining the Sharingan, though.

He never understood how much power he was wasting, and how little of it was the Orochi's when he used his chidori. That is, until he obtained his Sharingan eye.

And with that, Kakashi understood just how little he didn't know. He could literally see how inefficient the technique he came up with was, and how much power he was wasting. He could see everything rolling beneath the surface... but it didn't show him how to tap it.

Unfortunately for him, the Yondaime and Gai refused to teach him any more on how to use the gift. This enraged him... he needed this power! After seeing how little of his potential he was using, he was determined to learn to use it all.

And as time progressed, Kakashi began to be twisted by the power.

Somewhere along the line, it stopped being about 'gaining power to protect Konoha' and became 'gaining power for himself'. His logic started to become skewed, and he didn't even notice.

All he thought was that since the power was in him, it was his, and he needed to use it. More power was better, right?

Unfortunately, Kakashi had forgotten the line that the Yondaime had said to him, forgotten what he had said as he took Kakashi's eye.

"Only one of the blood can control the power."

The power itself warped Kakashi, even as he tried to bend it to his will. Without the blood to reign it in, Kakashi as stuck with the impulses that the Orochi Power gave him.

The more he tried to use it, the more he desired more. He hadn't even realized that he didn't care about protecting Konoha anymore.

He needed the power, and he would have it. To Kakashi, that's all there was to it.

So he would continue to throw his genin in headfirst, both to promote their growth, and his own.

Already Kakashi was changing how he used his power, gradually.

It wouldn't be long before he had reached his goal.

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-Meanwhile, in the villain's lair-

"Haku... I need you to go to Water Country and get my sword repaired. It shouldn't take too long... you know where the correct blacksmith is?"

"Yes, Zabuza... I'll take the next boat out."

"Good, good."

As Zabuza relaxed onto his old patchy sofa, he thought back to the fight that ruined part of his sword.

'That kid... what was he? Now that I think of it, none of those kids used any hand seals... but how did he generate those purple flames?

'For that matter, how did I capture Kakashi so easily? I know I'm good, but I'm not THAT good. It should have been much harder...'

As Zabuza sat, mulling over recent events, Haku had already left, traveling swiftly as only a ninja could, to get the sword repaired and come back home.

Fortunately, Zabuza was mostly uninjured... he'd just have to spend his time over the next week or so preparing and training to fight again. Haku had seen a weakness to the Sharingan that he planned on exploiting, but that fire-kid was something all-together different.

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"Mmmm, this food is delicious! Seconds, please?"

"Naruto-kun, slow down! You only just finished recovering... do you want to end up back in that bed with a stomach ache?"

"... No, Ino-chan."

As the others in the room watched Ino boss Naruto around, a young boy walked into the room.

"You.. you're all gonna die! Why are you fighting Gatoh, when he's just gonna kill you?"

As conversation halted, and everyone stared at this strange little kid, Naruto and Kiba looked at each other, and began to laugh.

"No, kid... Gatoh is just some rich civilian. He stands no chance against us! Hell, I could rip him in half with one hand!"

-Smack-

"Kiba, stop yelling at the kid! He's just a child, he can't possibly understand what's going on."

"Sorry, Ino."

As the child stared on at this odd scene, sniffling at the thought of people killed by Gatoh, Tazuna interjected.

"Now, now, Inari, the folks are ninja. They can take care of themselves in fights. Everyone, this is my grandson Inari."

"It doesn't matter, Gatoh will kill them!"

With that announcement, Inari ran crying up to his room.

"Uhh... so if he's not gonna eat his dinner, can I have it?"

-Smack-

"Damnit, Ino-chan! Stop that!"

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"So his father was killed by Gatoh... and he was some kind of hero to the village?'

"Well, he wasn't quite his dad, just someone he referred to as such... but yes, that's what happened."

"That's kind of sad... but if Gatoh seems to be the root of all these problems, why didn't Tazuna just pay for an assassination mission against him instead of guard duty? That makes a lot more sense."

"He couldn't afford it..."

As Tsunami explained what exactly was going on with Inari, Kakashi stood up.

"Well, Team... it's quite clear that we'll have to fight Zabuza again, seeing as he managed to get away. However, he should be a good deal weaker without his sword... though perhaps he just had that sent to be reforged.

"Either way, we have time, especially with how Zabuza should be theoretically weakened with the loss of his sword. That means we have time to train."

The Genin were following after Kakashi, out into the nearby woods.

Kakashi decided to make a gambit... see if he could get the kids to show him more.

"Now, all of you seem to have your own... special techniques, that you utilize differently then normal jutsu, that all seem to revolve around a common element.

"Now... we will work on your control. I've noticed that you all use your chakra differently, but there are some things that are universal.

"A ninja will rarely get to choose the environment he fights in, so there's an exercise that combines both usefulness and control.

"We're gonna go tree climbing."

"But Kakashi-sensei... we've already worked on that with Gai-sensei before..."

"Oh you have, have you? Well, we're going to do it slightly different. Gai had you just run up the trees, correct?"

At the genin's nod, Kakashi continued.

"Well, to really work on your control, I want you all to mold your energies, however it is you do it, to prepare one of your... special attacks, while you stand attached to a tree. This will work on multiple facets at once, and will be rather useful. Just don't actually release an attack."

The genin looked at each other. This was the first time that Kakashi had actually mentioned their unique abilities. They weren't sure if it was a good idea to practice so openly in front of him like this.

Ino and Kiba turned to Naruto, expecting him to make a decision about this.

'Well, Gai-sensei did say it was ok to do this kind of thing in front of Kakashi-sensei...'

Naruto nodded, and began to walk up the tree.

'Whew... this is perfect! Now all I need to do is lift up my forehead protector, and study them as they do this...'

No one noticed that Kakashi's skin tone darkened, just a single shade...

Author's Notes: More of Kakashi here... I was attempting to give his character more depth, which is hard as he is being fused with a character who wants Power solely for Power's sake.

We also see the beginnings of the true Orochi power showing through... some of the signs of a 'released' Orochi warrior are tanned skin, and altered hair. In fact, it rather looks like what Lee does when he uses Ura Renge...

Comments? Criticisms? Leave Reviews!


	8. Chapter 7

'I wonder how long I'm supposed to stay out here, anyway?'

It was three days after the battle at the lake, and Kakashi had been having them train nearly nonstop, two at a time. While he was training two, the other stayed with Tazuna, along with one of Kakashi's ninja dogs.

Training was basically composed of working both chakra control and manipulating Orochi power. Though Kakashi didn't quite phrase it like that, that was essentially what it was.

He'd have them manipulate their power while attached to a tree, have them try to use their special techniques while doing academy jutsus, and other such basic manipulations.

It made sense to the genin, as it did seem like a good idea.

It made sense to Kakashi, because he was able to see directly how they manipulated their power to get the desired results. Already, he could feel himself getting stronger, as he changed around how his body manipulated its energies.

However, training usually lasted as long as the genin could, and today was Kiba and Naruto's turn. They would keep up training until they were too tired to continue, and then go on their own back to Tazuna's house.

Naruto, having much more stamina then the other two, tended to stay out later.

Thus leading to the scene, where Naruto is currently attached to a tree, tossing a ball of purple flames from one hand to the other. He had already attempted juggling three of them… but that had ended up rather badly, and Kakashi had ordered him to just use one.

'I'm so freaking bored. Hell, everyone's gone in already, but Kakashi said to stay out until I was tired… it's gonna be a looong night.'

Reacting purely on instinct, Naruto dived away from the tree he was attached to, right before a blast of water hit right where he had been standing.

"What the- Who's there?"

Naruto looked around furiously, trying to figure out who attacked him.

From behind a nearby tree, he began to hear clapping. A shadowy figure walked out, before entering a patch of light, still clapping.

"Good job, Naruto… I see Gai took your training seriously."

"What? Who are you? Why the hell did you attack me?"

Naruto looked up at his attacker, confused.

'Is that guy… blue? With gills? And why is he wearing a huge cloak with clouds on it? Who would wear such a stupid looking outfit?'

Without answering any of his questions, Kisame lifted up his hand, palm outward… and shot another blast of water straight at Naruto.

'Holy crap! He did that technique just like how we do our Orochi techniques… it even had the same feel to it!'

As Naruto dodged around a few more blasts, trying to get in close to attack, Kisame lowered his hand.

"Well, I suppose that's enough of that. I was under the impression that Gai had warned you to be on the lookout for me, though."

"All Gai-sensei told me that being out of Konoha created some kind of opportunity… but I had thought all of the Orochi-blooded lived in Konoha! I've definitely never seen you around there… I think I'd remember someone who looked like you."

Naruto had relaxed his guard, seeing as the man didn't seem to be a threat. He should have expected something like this… only Gai would consider meeting a 6-foot fish man to be an 'opportunity'.

"So… who are you? How do you use those water attacks?"

Kisame looked around, double-checking that he had thrown Itachi sufficiently far off his tracks that he was nowhere in the area.

Seeing that there didn't seem to be anyone else spying on them, he raised his hands up again, this time pulling a large water sphere around the two.

"This is for privacy… I don't want anyone to accidentally overhear this.

"Naruto, I'm sure that you've been taught exactly what the Hakkeshu are. I'm the Hakkeshu of Water, Hoshigake Kisame. All of our plans, everything the Yondaime set into motion… I oversee.

"Gai told me that you three would be leaving Konoha for long enough that I could ensure that you knew how vital your role is in the grand scheme of things."

"What… what are you talking about?"

Naruto had always been told, from the time that he was very young, that he would be of service to the Orochi in a very special and unique way. He'd even been told that he would 'host' the Orochi, but he had never given it any real thought.

Naruto lived for the moment, and never really thought about where he was going to end up. But the way this 'Kisame' was talking…

"Naruto, you know our goals involve the release of the Orochi from the cursed Yata Seal. However, when we do so, the Orochi will be merely a spiritual entity, due to his long captivity. His original body is no longer accessible to him, because of the long separation.

"Because of this, the Orochi has decided that he will need a human body. And since someone of his blood would make the best choice… he chose you. You are being given the highest honor of any human in the history of man, Naruto."

Naruto rocked back at this.

"Wait… that's what was meant by 'host'? I'm going to also to have the Orochi in my body? Is that how he's going to drain the Kyuubi's power?"

'He's not quite ready for the full truth, it seems… I might as well just play along, and not give him too much to worry about.'

"Yes, sort of. For a time, you will also have the Orochi within you, and He will drain the Kyuubi of its power."

'Perhaps its better this way… The boy has too strong of a sense of self. If he knew that he was essentially sacrificing his body to the Orochi… He might not accept it, and try to fight fate when the time comes to it.'

"Now, I've got to go, Naruto… don't tell the other children about what I've told you… they might not quite understand its importance yet, and might misunderstand."

With that, Kisame dropped the water sphere, and disappeared in a splash of water.

"… That was weird."

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'Man… I'm so confused. I know there was something this guy wasn't telling me. Hell, how can I even trust him? He just comes out of nowhere, claiming knowledge of things he should have no clue of, and just tells me my future?

'Why couldn't Gai-sensei have given me more warning?'

'I wonder what he's brooding about… Naruto-kun's been so quiet lately.'

It was three days later, and Kakashi had decided that they had enough training, and that any day now Zabuza was going to attack again. It wouldn't do to have the team be exhausted from training when he showed up.

Ino was sitting with Naruto on the bridge, watching Kiba and Akamaru 'play games' off to the side. In reality, Kiba was using Akamaru to scout around the bridge, under the cover of a game of fetch.

Ino was mildly disturbed with how broody Naruto was being lately. It was completely out of character for him, and she knew something must have happened, but whenever she asked (read: demanded) him what was wrong, he'd always say 'Nothing'.

But then he'd get this weird look in his eyes, which meant something clearly had happened, which caused her to worry even more about him. Her worrying about him made Naruto brood even more, because it made him more confused about the whole 'hosting the Orochi' issue.

And it didn't help that Kakashi was being pretty weird, too. By now all the team had seen his red eye, the one that he normally kept covered. They weren't quite sure what it was, but the intensity of its stare on them while they trained was unnerving.

So too was how Kakashi was acting. Now, all he did was sit around reading his perverted books, when he wasn't supervising their training. Not that he did much there besides watch them, either, and giving pointers every so often.

But the bridge was nearing completion, which meant that Zabuza would have to resurface soon.

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"Ok, Itachi… we're done here. Let's head back for headquarters, and get on with our missions."

"… Fine."

'While his power was more developed then I expected… This Naruto seems to be too strong willed, from what I observed. He has to be made to understand the importance of our mission… And unfortunately, he doesn't trust me enough for me to do it. I'll just have to make one of the others responsible for it, then.'

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'Yes… this training plan of mine was wonderful. Just from watching them, manipulating my 'gift' has become so much easier. All thanks to the Sharingan, that is.

'With the way this is going, I'll have a few more original techniques created… as well as a couple of theirs I can take.

"I've brought over some lunch for you and the kids, Kakashi."

Tsunami's arrival broke Kakashi out of his reverie, causing him to put down his book and smile.

"Why, thank you, Tsunami. I'm sure everyone will enjoy it."

"You're welcome… And it seems all time you've spent outdoors has been good for you. You've got the beginnings of a nice tan forming."

'… Tan? What the hell is she talking about? I never tan… I use a jutsu to prevent burns and the like.

'I just wish my back would stop itching…'

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"Zabuza-sama… your sword is fixed. The smith was astounded at the damage, and said it would never be quite as perfect as it was before… but he managed to get it back into top form."

"Good, Haku. We'll strike tomorrow, then, and kill the bridge-builder. Go tell Gatoh… maybe that'll get him off my back."

"As you wish."

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The team arrived at the bridge, shortly after dawn.

The mist was slowly thinning out, but was still thick enough to give the bridge an eerie feeling.

There were no birds, no animals making any noise. Not even Akamaru.

Thus it came to no ones surprise when the voice of Zabuza was heard.

"Kirigakure no jutsu!"

Expecting only one person, the genin jumped back to guard Tazuna, leaving Zabuza to Kakashi.

Everyone was surprised when Haku made his appearance.

As Zabuza and Kakashi began to fight further down the bridge, Haku approached the genin.

Naruto and Kiba moved to intercept, leaving Ino back to guard Tazuna and to provide long range support.

"Don't make me fight you… I don't want to have to kill you. Let me kill the old man, and we can all live through this."

"Oh yeah? You think you can scare us? What the hell kind of losers do you think we are?"

As Kiba yelled back, Naruto drew upon his power.

Before he could release it, Haku disappeared in a flash of speed, reappearing behind Naruto.

To Haku's surprise, though, Naruto easily spun and deflected his attack.

Even more so as he cancelled his attack into another.

"Spinning Array!"

Haku leapt back, as Naruto abruptly stopped spinning, and lunged forward into his Shooting Dancer Thrust. However, as he was attacking, Haku was making hand-seals, which finished up just before Naruto's attack connected.

"Sensatsu Suisho!"

The Thousand Water Flying Needles caused Naruto to leap straight up in the air to avoid them, cancelling out of his own attack. However, in his scuffling with Naruto, Haku had lost track of Kiba. Something he came to regret as Kiba set up one of his own special techniques, as Kiba took the time during the other two's brief scuffle to pull up his own power, a little.

"Musebu Daichi!" Kiba grabbed Haku's head, and started smashing him, full body, into the ground. As he leapt up to deliver the final throw down, Haku managed to pull out some senbon and throw them into Kiba's face, narrowly missing his eyes.

This caused Kiba to let go of Haku, who further took advantage of the situation by launching another Sensatsu Suisho, connecting completely with Kiba. However, the second after the attack hit, Akamaru came flying of nowhere, smashing his small body directly into the back of Haku's knees, while attempting to rip out his hamstring.

Surprised by the unexpected dog, Haku kicked his foot back to throw him off, only to be hit in the face by Naruto, who had made his way back into the fight.

Kiba pulled himself up from the ground, panting heavily, as Haku jumped back, to reassess his opponents.

"I don't want to have to kill you… but if you interfere with Zabuza's wishes, I'll do what I must."

"Like you stand a chance. You may be good, but there are two of us, and one of you. It's you who should give up, before WE have to kill YOU."

"… Zabuza is my precious person. I will see his wishes through, no matter the cost. You leave me no choice. Makyo Hyosho!'

"What the-?"

As the Demonic Ice Mirror's formed into a dome around the duo, all Naruto could think was 'Goddamnit…'

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"So, I wonder how long it is before my team kills your little friend?"

"Bah, like they stand a chance… Haku is even stronger then I am, and possesses an incredibly powerful bloodline. In fact… yeah, it looks like your kids are screwed; Haku just utilized his most powerful technique. Your kids won't last much longer."

"Well… I guess you'll have to see on your own, but I seriously doubt my team will have any problems."

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'Shit, how the hell do we hit him?'

Haku was busy flashing from mirror to mirror, peppering the two with senbon. Naruto, whose main fighting style revolved around speed, could react and dodge to the needles, but couldn't react quickly enough to attack Haku.

Kiba wasn't so lucky, taking the brunt of the assault. Even further, Akamaru had taken some nasty needles, and needed some medical attention, which meant that Kiba also had to protect the dog throughout the fight.

"Well… might as well try melting the ice! Taiyou o Iru Honoo!"

However, the purple blast of fire merely washed against the ice, melting away a few inches before dying out. The melted ice immediately reformed back into its previous mirror form, as well.

"What the hell? What kind of ice is that?"

"This is my kekkei genkai… this is why you cannot win. I don't like having to kill, but I will, to ensure Zabuza's wishes…"

With that, Haku launched another senbon flurry, knocking down and out Kiba.

Kiba was merely unconscious… but the way he had been knocked out, with three senbon in his neck, combined with Haku's previous talk of murder… to Naruto, it looked as if Haku had killed him.

Naruto began to tremble, fire forming around his arms. He looked up directly at Haku's reflection, glaring. The fire began spiraling around Naruto… but unlike the fire around Naruto's hands, this was red flame.

"… Did you just kill him? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the thought of Kiba dying had driven Naruto into such a rage that he unconsciously drew upon the Kyuubi's chakra. It surrounded him, separate from his Orochi Flames, but empowering him just the same.

This time, Naruto didn't even bother with a special technique.

He just flashed forward, seemingly appearing right next to the mirror that Haku was in, before blasting it apart with a massive punch.

Haku was thrown clear of the dome, with Naruto appearing in front of him, hands afire.

"Shishi o Kamu Honoo!"

Naruto smashed apart Haku's hands, which had made a desperate attempt to block the attack, and proceeded to lay him out with a six-hit combo. Somewhere in the attack, Naruto had managed to hit Haku directly in the face, knocking apart the mask.

And he was stunned at what he saw.

He had thought this whole time he was fighting some random guy… but here he sees what looks to be a pretty hot girl, with tears forming in her eyes. This broke Naruto out of his mindless fury, completely shocking him, causing him to lose his aura of Kyuubi chakra.

"What the hell? You're a girl?"

"… No. But it doesn't matter. You've clearly won this fight… finish it. I don't deserve to live for failing Zabuza."

Naruto had never formed an attachment to Haku, having never met him. Seeing an opponent who was willing to be taken down… Well, that just makes life easier, doesn't it? As Naruto powered up his Orochi flames once more, he had to ask.

"This guy really matters that much to you that you're willing to just die because you think you failed him?"

Haku bowed his head, and spoke.

"Zabuza… he saved my life. He gave me a purpose. He is my precious person. I'm his tool, to do with as he wills. Without him, I am nothing. I live my life for him, as I would have had no life without him.

"If I have failed him… I don't deserve to live."

'… Is this what Kisame was talking about? I owe my existence to the Orochi… all of my power; everything that I have comes from it, in one way or another. Am I then one of his tools, to be used to cleanse the world's problems? Perhaps this boy… girl… person knows what they are talking about?'

However, as Naruto stood in thought, Haku's head snapped up.

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Kakashi had panicked. To be quite honest, in all of his interest with the Orochi, he had completely forgotten that Naruto was also a jinchuriki.

So in his moment of fear, he pulled a little more heavily upon his 'gift', and smashed Zabuza back with ease. As Zabuza recovered, Kakashi had finished pulling out his summoning scroll, and completed his technique.

'Gotta end this fast… I don't want to see the Kyuubi released!'

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Looking to where Zabuza was fighting, Haku could clearly see that Zabuza was trapped, held in place by Kakashi's ninja dogs, as Kakashi himself charged forward with his raikiri.

As Naruto pulled himself out of his thoughts, feeling the Orochi power rolling off Kakashi, he saw Haku flicker over to where Zabuza was, to block Kakashi's attack with his body.

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"Haku… a fine tool to the end."

As Naruto stood stunned at Haku's sacrifice, and Akamaru was slowly pulling senbon out of Kiba with his mouth, Kakashi swiftly took out Zabuza's arms with multiple kunai.

And then Gatoh had to show up. And start bitching about how worthless Zabuza and Haku were, and how he planned on betraying the two missing-nin anyway.

Of course, Zabuza objected to that… and so did Naruto. He himself seemed to be a tool of something greater, and would allow no disrespect for Haku's sacrifice.

And it was also at this point that two of Gatoh's thugs showed up with a tied up Tsunami and Inari, who they had captured with no resistance. Naruto objected to what Gatoh's announced 'plans' for a woman as good looking as Tsunami were, and began to attack, along with Zabuza.

So as Zabuza charged forward, kunai in mouth, Naruto launched several fireballs at Gatoh's men, lighting them on fire and causing them to jump off the bridge or die. Kakashi, too, got into the fight, killing the thugs with practiced ease. Naruto swiftly made his way over to Tsunami and her son, freeing them in short order.

As soon as the mercenaries attacked, Ino had made her way over to Kiba, pulling senbon out of him and his dog, which soon brought him back to consciousness.

And when Gatoh died, Zabuza also fell, with an enemy spear in his back. But at least he was able to die with dignity, going down fighting.

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'At least he's back to normal… whatever was bothering him, seems to be gone now.'

Ino was happy that Naruto seemed to get over whatever problem he had been having, even though he did it without her help. After all, she saw it as her duty, as his 'girlfriend' (something Naruto was still a tad clueless about) to cheer him up.

'Ah, well… I'll make sure to be the one who helps him next time!'

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'That guy was tough! Man, I dunno how Naruto beat him… I wish I had seen it, it must have been awesome!'

Kiba was excited, having no clue of exactly how Naruto had managed to defeat Haku. He was trying to figure out which special technique Naruto must have pulled out to beat him.

After all, after seeing what Haku could do in a fight, there's no way he believed that Naruto took out the ice prison with just one punch, and then took out Haku with just one technique.

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'Haku… I hope you're right, man. You sounded so positive… so absolute as you talked about Zabuza.

'At least now I have a picture, something to focus on when I think about the future, and the Orochi.

'I wish I could tell the others… but I think I should talk with Gai-sensei or Kurenai-neesan first.'

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"What now, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well… the bridge is finished. We head on home… I have something I need to discuss with the Sandaime, something that will probably interest you guys later on."

No matter how much they begged, though… Kakashi wouldn't tell him what he was talking about.

'Oh yes… I have some very different plans for the chuunin exams. And if I can convince the Third that they are a good idea…'

And on the team walked; the three genin in the lead, with Kakashi following, reading and scratching his lower back.

Author's Notes:

New Techniques!

Naruto: Spinning Array: One of Naruto's taijutsu techniques, that requires no Orochi power to generate. He clasps his hands together, spins around and smashes his opponent.

Shishi o Kamu Honoo: An unblockable, six hit autocombo.

Daichi o Harau Gouka (from last chapter): One of Naruto's most powerful attacks, it causes an aura of flames to appear around him. He then rushes at his opponent, and leaps out of the flame, which continues forward to hit the opponent. It can be powered up further, where he charges three times, before leaping out of the aura of flames.

Kiba: Musebu Daichi: Kiba grabs his opponent, smashes them into the ground three times, and then leaps in the air and crushes them into the ground again.

Well, more of the plot unravels for Naruto… he gets an alternate perspective from Haku, that may or may not affect future decisions of his.

Kakashi's further descent into Rugal-ness will only cause more problems for all sides in the coming conflicts, that's for sure. After all, what kind of Rugal would he make if he didn't try to create some kind of fighting tournament?

Comments? Criticisms? Leave Reviews!


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